Innovation is a fundamental driver of economic growth and development because it leads to higher productivity, the creation of new markets and industries, increased competitiveness, and greater efficiency. This is the thrust of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), as it takes the Prize for Innovation to a whole new level; BENJAMIN UMUTEME writes.
Innovation is a fundamental driver of economic growth and development because it leads to higher productivity, the creation of new markets and industries, increased competitiveness, and greater efficiency.
By developing new products, services, processes, or business models, innovation enables businesses to produce more output with the same or fewer inputs, which boosts overall economic output and raises living standards. It also fosters economic diversification, generates new employment opportunities, and attracts investment, creating a positive cycle of growth.
Specifically, innovation enhances productivity by introducing technological advancements, such as automation and artificial intelligence that streamline production and reduce costs. This increased productivity translates into higher wages for workers and greater profits for companies, which allows for further investment and job creation.
Innovation also creates entirely new industries – such as the technology and green energy sectors – that expand the economy’s scope and resilience.
And experts have insisted that entrepreneurship is key to Nigeria’s future development goals because it drives economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction.
According to them, entrepreneurship promotes innovation and productivity, helping diversify the economy away from overreliance on traditional sectors such as oil. It enables the creation of new businesses that generate employment opportunities, especially for the youth, and stimulates industrial development and technological advancement.
By fostering entrepreneurship, Nigeria can enhance income distribution, stimulate capital formation, and boost export trade, all vital for long-term socio-economic progress and meeting its development goals.
Many have listed the challenges hindering entrepreneurship growth in Nigeria include: lack of access to funding; poor infrastructure; corruption and bureaucratic hurdles; limited access to markets; inadequate government incentives and protection; skills gap; and challenging business environment.
However, addressing these challenges requires coordinated policy interventions, investment in infrastructure, anti-corruption measures, financial support mechanisms, and capacity-building programmes to create an enabling environment for sustainable entrepreneurship growth.
Filling the void
And this is the void that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has come to fill with the introduction of the Prize for Innovation.
The NSIA Prize for Innovation began as a flagship programme by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to identify, support, and fund early-stage Nigerian startups and innovative solutions with the potential for significant economic and social impact.
With over 2,000 applications in its inaugural edition, the aim of the programme is not only to find start-ups with transformative potential but also to nurture homegrown talent in the digital and tech sectors, providing financial awards, mentorship, and training opportunities to scale their innovations globally.
The programme includes multiple phases: application, acceleration, demo day pitching, and post-demo training, including an all-expense-paid program at Draper University in Silicon Valley, USA.
The initiative reflects the Authority’s long-term commitment to economic diversification, innovation, and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
The first edition was officially announced around December 2022 or early 2023, with subsequent editions expanding prize values and partnerships to deepen impact across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and education.
The creation of the NSIA Prize for Innovation in Nigeria was inspired by the objective to identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions that can catalyse economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs.
The prize aims to provide an enabling platform for Nigerian innovators to showcase their solutions with transformative potential, raise capital, network with investors and technology experts, and strengthen the capital formation process for viable digital solutions originating in Nigeria.
It also seeks to inspire ingenuity, creativity, and breakthrough ideas in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem through cycles of prize competitions that empower Nigerian innovators by providing a platform to showcase their solutions, raise capital, connect with investors and industry experts, and strengthen the capital formation process for viable digital solutions emerging from Nigeria.
NIP 3.0
The third edition of the NIP had total prize money of $280,000, with $220,000 from NSIA (primarily equity-based, with a 75:25 equity-to-cash ratio) and additional contributions of $45,000 from Cascador and $15,000 from the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC).
Unlike the prize money for NPI 2.0 (NSIA Prize for Innovation 2.0) which was a combined total of $220, 000.
After a grueling process, three top winners emerged. A breakdown showed that D-Olivette Labs received $115,000 ($100,000 from NSIA + $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize) for AI-powered bio-digesters converting waste into clean energy and fertilisers.
Promise Point won $85,000 ($70,000 from NSIA + $15,000 Cascador) for a woman-led cassava processing venture. While GeroCare secured $55,000 ($50,000 from NSIA + $5,000 PVAC) for a health-tech platform improving elderly care.
Other startups like Sosocare, FriendsnPal, and Mediverse received $5,000–$15,000 each for healthcare and mental health innovations.
The top 10 finalists will receive a five-week, all-expenses-paid training program at Draper University in Silicon Valley, providing mentorship, networking, and global exposure.
While speaking at the event, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, the MD & CEO of the NSIA, said, “The NSIA Prize for Innovation exemplifies our commitment to nurturing homegrown solutions with the potential for transformative impact.
“This year, we have partnered with PVAC and Cascador to expand the opportunities for participating start-ups and further propel innovation, youth entrepreneurship and meaningful solutions that drive positive socio-economic outcomes.
“There’re modest components of what will be a grant, but the significant majority will be equity into the top three. And this is going to be a prize that the NSIA is going to run in a sustainable manner moving forward.”
Driving improvement in healthcare
In his view, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), Abdu Mukhtar, said the aim of PVAC is to seek innovative ideas that would drive improvement in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
He said, “We participated in this because healthcare is one of the three sectors that we are looking at today for this prize for innovation in healthcare, education and agriculture.
“I travel across the country, every part of this country, I see a lot of innovative ideas in healthcare from technology driven care to care that focuses on primary healthcare to local manufacturing and healthcare to service delivery.”
He continued: “So, the goal for PIVAC to participate in this is to really mobilise the private sector and tell them that there are opportunities to identify innovative solutions in healthcare and then bring them to the forefront and find financing for them so that they can scale up their businesses to help our citizens.
“So, the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain was established by His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, in October 2023 to mobilise private sector resources, mobilise the private sector through the delivery of healthcare, to incentivise local manufacturing of healthcare products, but really just build an ecosystem so that Nigerian entrepreneurs, the private sector can participate and put their hands together with government to improve service delivery for healthcare.”
Market accessibility
The Economic Counselor of the US Embassy, Abuja, Joseph Giblin, said it was crucial for the innovators to scale-up their products if they want to stand a chance of accessing the international market.
“One of the challenges is access to the market. Breaking into that market, especially with one of the challenges for any innovator is scalability. So, their ability to scale their products is going to be a challenge that they’re working on now, and we’ll continue to work on going forward. And we look forward to hearing how they present themselves to those challenges. It’s not easy.
“The worldwide market is a difficult place, but these are some excellent ideas, and I look forward to seeing and hearing about how they grow going forward,” he said.
Infrastructure investment
For the Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan, Hitoshi Kozaki, the Embassy will provide the grant of N10 million for a start-up hub in Abuja, which is an infrastructure investment, where the entrepreneur can make their products.
According to him, the second part is the funding of N20 million will be managed by the NSIA, together with the Nigerian side investment in the same amount.
“The uniqueness of the fund is that typically when the donor provides funding, it comes to the donor, to the recipient. But the uniqueness of the funding is that the recipient also provides funding, which means the ownership on the side of the recipient, not just giving some money to do some business, but it’s working together to create a business, jointly by the Japanese and Nigerian enterprises,” he said.
Providing healthcare for elderly
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend, the Cofounder/COO, Gerocare Ajibola Meraiyebu, said GeroCare was driven by the desire to fill a void that is mostly neglected in the country.
According to him, providing healthcare for the elderly in the society should be a deliberate policy by all stakeholders.
“Our motivating factors are not limited to our drive to provide medical care for underserved segments of the society, especially the elderly who are heavily undeserved.
“When people age their health deteriorates and we need to be more deliberate so as to prevent chronic conditions that could be life threatening,” he told this newspaper.
He urged start-ups to be “resilient and ensure that their solution is solving a problem. As long as there is a unique problem, they will solve it.”