NSIA launched an innovation prize with a total prize value of US$255,000 to be awarded as a combination of cash and equity investment to the underlying businesses of the winners.

The NSIA Prize for Innovation’s (NPI) primary objective is to identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions that have the potential to catalyze economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs. The NPI is designed to encourage and support ingenuity within the digital sector and to fund new solutions that could result in cost-effective, scalable, and transformative positive impact.

The NPI priority sectors are technology-enabled businesses in financial services, agriculture, health, education, manufacturing, logistics & e-mobility, e-commerce & marketplaces, renewables & power, and climate. The listed priority sectors were selected given the appreciable impact innovations in these sectors can have on the Nigerian economy. Applications from innovative tech-focused or tech-enabled businesses aforementioned sectors will be considered by an expert panel of judges.

The programme is a multi-year commitment by the NSIA to empower budding Nigerian innovators, in a bid to catalyse the rise of the digital economy. The Programme will adopt a three-staged competition at the end of which ten (10) finalists will emerge and win varied prizes.

The programme will run for sixteen (16) weeks covering the following stages:

1. Pre-selection Stage: At this stage, innovators complete applications through an application portal. Applicants are expected to provide details regarding their digital product/service, business model, and minimum viable product.
2. Accelerator Stage: Shortlisted innovators will participate in a technical partner-led, accelerator programme designed to mentor and equip them with the tools required to succeed. The ten (10) successful and committed innovators will be adjudged by an independent panel of expert judges.
3. Final Stage (Demo Day): The ten (10) Programme finalists will each be allotted a timeslot to present their pitch to the panel of judges. The judging panel will comprise the technical, and venture partners and a combination of local and foreign technology industry experts and investors.

The top three (3) finalists will win varied prizes comprising equity investment into the underlying business as well as cash prizes. The last (7) finalists will win consolation prizes.

• Identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions to catalyse economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs.
• Provide an enabling platform to showcase early-stage innovative solutions with transformative potential.
• Create an avenue for Nigerian innovators to raise capital and network with a universe of investors and established technology experts.
• Strengthen the capital formation process for viable digital solutions originating in Nigeria.
• Inspire ingenuity, creativity, innovation, and breakthrough ideas in the digital ecosystem in Nigeria through cycles of prize competitions.