The UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) of the UK Government, is now accepting applications for a social impact accelerator program. This program will help the Nigerian tech industry grow.
In particular, the program is aimed at new businesses from Edo, Adamawa, Kwara, Kaduna, Enugu, and Osun in Nigeria.
In a statement, the following day, Oyinkansola Akintola-Bello, the Country Director of the Hub, said that applications were now open.
She said that chosen people would get 16 weeks of personalized training from local business leaders and tech hubs.
Akintola-Bello said the training was meant to give people the skills they would need to make a more significant difference while still making money.
Read also: Uk-Nigeria Tech hub, Google partner to uplift African women tech founders
Getting to tools
According to Akintola-Bello, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub teamed up with NINE to create an impact incubator called “Social Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship” for social impact entrepreneurs. She went on to list other benefits of the program for the chosen startups. Those chosen will be added to the founder pipeline for the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and can use tools and networks.
“They will also get 16 weeks of personalised training in-person and online from local tech hubs and business leaders. This training will give them the skills to make a bigger impact while still making money.”
The project will encourage equitable and sustainable economic growth and jobs, build high-end digital skills, and foster innovation partnerships between Nigerian tech sectors and international enterprises, according to Akintola-Bello.
NINE and Kaduna Business School produced a challenge brief to identify market and sector-specific health, climate change, education, and food security shortages affecting marginalised populations in six pilot states in Nigeria before the accelerator.
She said, “This collaboration to scale social impact innovations underscores the UK’s commitment to nurturing brilliance in underserved regions, ensuring that every idea, regardless of location, has the resources and support required to scale
Boosting innovation outside of Lagos and Abuja
Banking Oloruntoba, Chairman of NINE, also said Nigeria’s new city-based innovation environment needed to be boosted beyond Abuja and Lagos.
“The goal of this program is to help these new state economies grow by encouraging entrepreneurs and making jobs possible with digital technology,” Oloruntoba said.
Who Can Apply?
For startups to be accepted for the program, they must:
Deal with issues that affect specific areas, like jobs, schooling, food, health, the climate, and environmental change.
You should be in the imagination, MVP, or early stages of creation.
Be operating within the geographic boundaries of Adamawa, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Kwara and Osun states.
According to Akintola-Bello, female start-up founders and innovators are highly encouraged to apply.
Qualified and interested startups can apply for the program here.