The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) on Sunday announced the winner of the second edition of the NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI 2.0).
In a statement released in Abuja, the NSIA named Sycamore, a peer-to-peer lending fintech platform, as the winner of the top prize, with a monetary value of $100,000m followed by Kunda Kids for second place and $70,000 prize money, and PaveHQ for third place and $50,000 .
The spokesperson of NSIA, Joyce Onyegbula, the winning platform, led by Babatunde Akin-Moses, followed an assessment of pitches from ten innovators by an expert panel of judges drawn from the business and technology eco-system of the country’s economy. Onyegbula said the evaluation was based on key metrics, including market potential, team composition, traction and competitiveness of the solution proposed.
She said Sycamore, which leverages technology to connect lenders and borrowers, was founded in 2019 primarily to empower African businesses and propel economic growth by bridging the credit gap with technology.
Following closely was Kunda Kids, an edtech media company focused on providing well illustrated engaging African inspired digital content to children, parents and libraries globally, which took the second position with a combined prize value of $70,000.
The third position went to PaveHQ, a learning and career ecosystem that supports students to achieve a successful career. The platform received a total combined prize value of $50,000, to bring the total combined prize value $220,000.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NSIA, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said at the recently concluded NPI Demo Day that the NSIA Prize for Innovation was conceived in recognition of the pivotal role technology plays to shape positive socio-economic outcomes, strengthen multiple sectors, significantly expand opportunities across multiple sectors and re-position home-grown talent for global relevance.
Now in its second year, the Innovation Prize competition has so far received commendable attention from the tech eco-system in the country as the registration of credible start-ups across Nigeria.
Joining the programme has grown from 2,000 to over 7,000 entries within the current year.
“The NPI programme validates the NSIA’s commitment to propel innovation, support entrepreneurship and position young Nigerians within the technology eco-system for global relevance,” Umar-Sadiq said.
He said this year’s programme has been expanded to include a five-week all-expenses paid training at Draper University, Silicon Valley USA, to enable all top ten innovators expand their horizon and potentially deliver solutions on global platforms.
The NSIA Prize for Innovation is NSIA’s multi-year commitment to identify and nurture early-stage innovative businesses within the tech ecosystem to create sustainable positive impact.
It adopts a four-stage competition process to catalyse investments for early-stage businesses.
NSIA was established by the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Act (2011) to manage and invest in a diversified portfolio of medium and long-term funds. Its mission is to play a leading role in driving sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians through building a savings base for the Nigerian people, enhancing the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, and providing stabilization support in times of economic stress.
NSIA operates three distinct funds, the Stabilization Fund, the Future Generations Fund, and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund.
