The official unveiling took place on Thursday at GITEX Nigeria 2025, on the prestigious 10x stage at Landmark Event Centre, Lagos, drawing innovators, policymakers, and investors from across Africa’s tech ecosystem.

Empowering Nigerian Youth Through Innovation

Addressing participants at the launch, Khalil Halilu, executive vice chairman/CEO of NASENI, described the competition as more than a contest, but a nationwide movement to unlock Nigeria’s innovation potential.

“In terms of what kind of innovation, I think they should be looking at things that solve real problems. Not just fancy things, but solutions to daily challenges of the average Nigerian that can also scale at an African level,” Halilu said.

He emphasized that the government is determined to back young inventors with not just funding, but also mentorship, tools, and global exposure. “You see a young kid in Jigawa creating a generator that runs on water, this initiative gives them an opportunity to participate, access grants, receive mentorship, and transform their ideas into reality,” he added.

Structure of the Competition

The InnovateNaija challenge, which enjoys Presidential support, will unfold in two major phases across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT):

• Phase One: One top innovator from each state and the FCT will emerge, producing 37 winners. Each will receive a ₦2.5 million grant to further refine and expand their projects.
• Phase Two: The top 15 finalists will advance to the NASENI Invention Fest in Abuja, scheduled for February 2026, where the national winners will be unveiled.

The grand prize winner will walk away with ₦100 million to scale their innovation into a market-ready solution capable of competing on a global stage.

Tied to NASENI’s Bigger Innovation Agenda

The challenge also serves as a prelude to the NASENI Innovation Hub in Abuja, a state-of-the-art center that will provide infrastructure, mentorship, and funding for promising innovators. According to NASENI, the hub is designed to turn Nigerian inventions into export-ready technologies, boosting local manufacturing and reducing dependence on foreign imports.

Halilu underscored that youth-driven innovation is central to Nigeria’s development strategy. “This government is saying: we believe in the youth, we believe in their creativity. Nigerians have been asking for support for their inventions, this is our direct response,” he stated.

AfriLabs’ Call to Action

Also speaking at the launch, Jennifer Okeke Ojiudu, senior ecosystem engagements manager at AfriLabs, hailed the initiative as a unique platform to spotlight Nigerian ingenuity.

“If you have a cousin, sister, friend, or brother with brilliant ideas, push them to come forward. We also need state governments to back these young innovators because they will be representing their states,” she said.

Ojiudu urged Nigerian youths to take ownership of the opportunity: “Young people, get on social media, get on the website, put in your ideas. You need to be involved in this.”

A National Innovation Movement Begins

Applications for InnovateNaija officially opened on September 4, 2025, and organisers expect thousands of entries from across the country.

Beyond the competition, NASENI and AfriLabs stress that the ultimate goal is to build a sustainable innovation ecosystem where Nigerian technologies are not only funded but nurtured, mentored, and scaled for global impact.

“InnovateNaija is about more than ₦250 million in prizes,” Halilu concluded. “It is about transforming Nigerian inventors into global innovators who will define the future of technology, not just for Nigeria, but for Africa and the world.”

• The Airbnb Community Fund will distribute $100 million / ₦153 billion to communities by the end of 2030, including six organisations across Africa.
• In the Fund’s fourth year, over 160 organisations across 30+countries will receive donations totaling more than $8.5 million / ₦13 billion USD. As in previous years, hosts helped direct a majority of the donations.
• Recipients include nonprofits working to make a difference in economic empowerment, environmental sustainability, and ending abuse and exploitation.

Airbnb has shared the latest recipients of Airbnb Community Fund grants, which include more than 160 organisations making a difference in 30+ countries across six continents. 

Launched in 2020, the Airbnb Community Fund is a $100 million / ₦153 billion initiative to directly support local communities and the people who live there.

Each year, Airbnb donates to organisations that are supporting and strengthening communities around the world, including donations made in partnership with local hosts in many of these communities.

Each year, we’re proud to partner with hosts to identify important issues and many of the non-profit organisations to receive donations. 

Airbnb hosts are deeply connected to their communities and by involving them in this process, we aim for the Fund to drive meaningful impact. As in previous years, hosts helped direct a majority of the donations.

Airbnb Community Fund Recipients across Africa

This year’s Community Fund grants were directed to organisations focused on three issue areas identified by the Airbnb Host Advisory Board as important to the global host community: economic empowerment, environmental sustainability, and ending abuse and exploitation. Grants directed to organisations in Africa include:

• Digify Africa (South Africa), a youth-led organisation that aims to equip young people with vital digital skills, empowering them to thrive in the digital economy and contribute to entrepreneurship, employment, and sustainable development across Africa.
• AfriLabs (Nigeria), a pan-African network which aims to empower entrepreneurs with essential skills, funding, and networks to scale their businesses. The funding will be used to support innovation hubs and their communities to raise high potential entrepreneurs that will stimulate economic growth and social development in Africa.
• Children of Africa (Kenya), a charity that empowers underprivileged girls through vocational training and employment opportunities. The organisation also supports disadvantaged children in pursuing formal education through a sponsorship program.
• Global Give Back Circle (Kenya), a social impact enterprise that provides vulnerable adolescent girls and young women with the support and opportunities they need to dream, believe, achieve, and become catalysts for positive change in their communities and beyond.

Members of local Host Clubs, which are led by volunteer hosts, nominated local, community-based non-profit organisations making a difference in their communities and then helped select the finalists. Members of 85 Host Clubs – nearly double from last year – representing more than 30 countries selected organisations to receive grants, including Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) International on behalf of WISER Kenya and Round Table Margate No 46 (Tidy Towns Shelly to Margate) in South Africa.

Qhakaza Mohare, COO of Digify Africa, said:

“Airbnb’s generous donation has been instrumental in enabling us to expand our efforts in empowering young people with digital skills and opportunities. It allowed us to lay the foundation for our Marketplace initiative, connecting graduates to real-world opportunities and further supported the growth of our GP program. This contribution has had a ripple effect, enhancing our organisation’s capacity and creating pathways for sustainable impact in underserved communities.”

The Airbnb Community Fund in action

To date, the Airbnb Community Fund has distributed more than $36 million / ₦55 billion to non-profit organisations in nearly 70 countries, with hosts providing input each year.

To learn more about the Airbnb Community Fund, please visit the Airbnb Community Fund website.

*This year’s Airbnb Community Fund grants were distributed from July 2024 through early 2025. Airbnb works with grantmaking partners to support due diligence and facilitate payment to many nonprofit grantees.

The finalists were selected from a cohort of 40 highly competitive Fintechs that made it to the semi-final stage of the competition.

This year’s challenge attracted over 1,550 applications from 70 countries in Africa and other global regions.

The finalists will showcase their innovative solutions at the Ecobank Fintech Challenge Grand Finale, scheduled for 27 September 2024, at the Ecobank Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo.

The event will be streamed live on Ecobank Group’s social media channels, allowing a global audience to participate. Finalists of the challenge will compete for the US$50,000 ultimate prize during this highly anticipated event.

Speaking at the Semi-Final, Jeremy Awori, chief executive officer of Ecobank Group, remarked,

“The finalists in this year’s Ecobank Fintech Challenge have showcased exceptional talent and innovation; and we look forward to welcoming them to the Finale. At Ecobank, we’re committed to collaborating with these business builders to develop products and services that will benefit our customers and contribute to our continent’s progress”.

Showcasing the future of African fintech, here are the exceptional finalists of the 2024 Ecobank Fintech Challenge:

• BuuPass, Kenya
• Daba Finance,Ivory Coast
• EasyEquities, South Africa
• Exuus, Rwanda
• Melanin Kapital Neobank, Kenya
• MiaPay, Togo
• PaySika, Cameroon
• PROBOUTIK, Senegal
• Sawport Video Banking as a Virtual Branch, Nigeria
• Sproutly, Nigeria
• Vaultpay, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• YMO Africa, Guinea

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge, a flagship initiative of the Ecobank Group, organised for seven consecutive years, continues to serve as a premier continental platform for promoting innovation and collaboration between Fintechs and the pan-African Bank’s cross-border markets spanning 35 countries.

The challenge remains a significant event, attracting key players within the fintech ecosystem and beyond.

It provides a unique opportunity for fintech entrepreneurs to address challenges such as reaching scale, navigating an uncertain regulatory environment, and managing scarcity of funding.

In addition to financial rewards, the challenge offers Ecobank’s expertise in diversified market operations and the right solutions to scale across its pan-African footprint and international presence.

Since inception, 60 fintech startups have been inducted into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed in partnership with international advisory firm Konfidants and is supported by various partners including Huawei, Proparco, TechCabal, BlueSpace, Afrilabs, Africa Fintech Network, MEST Africa, Naija Startups, Expand In Africa and Founders Africa.

This year’s Grand Finale will bring together fintechs, regulators, investors, financial institutions, global technology companies, tech hubs, entrepreneurs, and industry experts.

Ecobank invites all key stakeholders within the Fintech ecosystem, and members of the general public to register for the Grand Finale via this link.

Inuwa said that ecosystem collaboration is paramount to propel and build a robust technology research ecosystem that aligns with the present administration’s redefined priorities to accelerate diversification through industrialisation, digitisation, and innovation.

Inuwa made this remark at a workshop themed “Intel AI programme for Africa Deep-Tech startups, Ecosystem stakeholders” which was organised by Afrilabs and Intel in Abuja.

He added:

“For us to succeed as a nation there is need for synergy, and we must strongly believe that the best solution emerges from collaborative efforts, harnessing diverse talents, expertise, and perspectives of the robust ecosystem for the advancement of the country”.

Inuwa noted that our problem in Africa is about implementation processes, he added that, “we need to have strong institutions to implement these policies and strategies for the realisation of our goals and objectives”.

He opined that there is need to work together to build policies and regulations that will be beneficial and flexible to implement through proper coordination attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Speaking on NITDA’s commitment towards the implementation of diverse initiatives and policies, Inuwa stated that it has attracted 6 African countries and other government institutions to visit and understudy for replication to change the conventional way of doing things.

Providing insights into NITDA’s strategic direction, Inuwa mentioned the agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2024-2027) 2.0, structured around eight pillars which include Fostering Digital Literacy and Cultivating Talents, Building a Robust Technology Research Ecosystem, Strengthening Policy Implementation and Legal Frameworks, Promoting Inclusive Access to Digital Infrastructure and Services, Enhancing Cybersecurity and Digital Trust, Nurturing an Innovative and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Forging Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations, and Cultivating a Vibrant Organisational Culture with an Agile Workforce.

Speaking earlier, Mr Ajibola Odukoya, the chief operating afficer of Afrilabs, stated that driving innovation economy in Africa by power of our communities will bring about the cultivation of high potential entrepreneurs who will become catalysts for economic growth and social development in Africa.

The workshop is aimed at finding solutions to research carried out on evaluating the deep tech ecosystem in Africa and lacks tailored support for the growth of startups in the sector.

Odukoya added that Artificial intelligence (AI) is a tool that will bridge Africa and the world and need to consider Africa towards building AI frameworks and libraries to showcase African perspectives and zeal in problem-solving.

The funding comes as part of Visa Foundation’s five-year, $200 Million Equitable Access Initiative launched in April 2020, a strategic commitment to support gender diverse and inclusive SMBs around the world. 

Visa Foundation will direct the grants to AfriLabs, the largest and most diverse community of technology hubs, innovators, and entrepreneurs in the African ecosystem, and Graça Machel Trust, a women founded and-led Pan African nonprofit raising the profile of women’s economic empowerment and gender-lens investment on the continent.

The combined $1 Million in funding will prioritize the growth of gender diverse and inclusive small and micro businesses (SMBs) in the region. Through the Equitable Access Initiative, Visa Foundation as of January 2023 has committed $162 Million in grants and investments to 60 grantees and investees in more than 60 countries and supported 3.4 million small businesses globally, including in Africa.

According to the World Bank, while Africa boasts of the highest growth rate of female-run businesses in the world, women only receive one percent of funding from VCs.

Women business owners continue to face challenges that are unique to them—ranging from patriarchy, cultural norms and unconscious bias that impacts women’s ability to access markets, finance, technology and networks. The global pandemic further exacerbated these challenges as women-led SMBs were hardest hit.

“Visa Foundation is working around the world with partners to eliminate barriers to capital by investing in those who have been historically excluded from economic opportunity,” said Graham Macmillan, president, Visa Foundation. “We’re excited to support growing women entrepreneurs in Africa through these impactful organizations that address the stark gender investment gap across the region.”

Through the Visa Foundation grant, AfriLabs will fund its RevUp Women Initiative which supports early-stage, women-led startups in Africa. The initiative entails capacity-building training and mentoring to 500 beneficiaries, and 10 business owners will be selected to receive a $10,000 investment each through the Catalytic Africa matching fund. 

The first cohort of beneficiaries will be selected from Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa. The call for applications is ongoing. 

According to Anna Ekeledo, AfriLabs Executive Director, “We are pleased with the Visa Foundation’s support for the initiative because it aligns with our inclusion strategy and sets the tone for our larger vision, part of which is to support 50,000 women-led enterprises by 2026.”

With its funding, Graça Machel Trust will grow its flagship enterprise development program ‘Women Creating Wealth’ in Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa to reach 100 women-led, small-to-medium sized businesses. 

The ‘Firestarters’ initiative builds on the current investor readiness programme the organization has in place that helps ‘missing middle’ women entrepreneurs scale their businesses and galvanize action around access to capital at the country, regional and continental levels. 

“We are proud to partner with Visa Foundation to break down some of the structural barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in Africa,” said Melizsa Mugyenyi, CEO, Graça Machel Trust. “It’s an honor for our programs to be recognized by a leading organization like Visa Foundation, with a like-minded mission of spotlighting gender-lens investment and women’s empowerment.”

In Africa, recent innovations are mainly focused on the continent’s urban centres. This has slowed down the growth of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems in peri-urban and rural areas. This partnership aims to address this gap and tap into the innovation potential outside the big cities.

“Innovation takes place everywhere. The role of entrepreneur support organisations like AfriLabs and the Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs in Kenya is to find, support and amplify these innovators to help them have maximum impact. AfriLabs is delighted to begin work with the Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs in Kenya to ensure that our entrepreneur support hubs and the communities they serve, regardless of their geographical location, have an equal chance to thrive.” Nekesa Were, Director of Strategy, AfriLabs said during her speech at the signing event at Rift Valley Innovation Centre.

The collaboration will co-create and implement capacity building programs for AfriLabs and ACIH grassroots member hubs to support peri-urban and rural innovations. It will also support the creation of a more robust, more coordinated Pan African ecosystem among the numerous technology and innovation hubs currently operating on the continent.

“What a milestone. When two visionary membership organisations like the Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs and Afrilabs come together, it can only mean one thing, a plus for African startups and communities. Through this collaboration, we are looking forward to an inclusive innovation ecosystem in Africa, and becoming a source of prosperity for all, by strengthening grassroots hubs to foster rural and peri-urban innovations and strong links with technology and innovation hubs across the continent.” Chepkemoi Magdaline, Chairperson, Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs commented while speaking to the press at the signing ceremony.

The Nigeria Hardware Ecosystem Map is an online platform connecting indigenous hardware, engineering and manufacturing companies in Nigeria to customers, investors, partners and end-users.

The map was built to collate data, understand the ecosystem, showcase players in the ecosystem, enhance collaboration, advertise hardware-related businesses, and facilitate the growth of the hardware ecosystem.

Speakers at the convention:

The launch comprised stakeholders from across the Nigerian as well as African technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem representing several organisations such as Afrilabs (association of tech hubs in Africa), Innovation Support Network – ISN (association of tech hubs in Nigeria), Africa Makerspace Network (Association of makerspaces in Africa), Hardware Nigeria Community – HNC (association of hardware experts, startups and stakeholders in Nigeria), UNDP Accelerator Lap Nigeria, Abia Tech Community, Start Up South, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), SIP, South South South East Angel Network (SSEAN), etc.

Nine stakeholders including Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu (President, ISPON), Daniel Chinagozi (Board member, Afrilabs), Fayo Williams (Board member, ISN), Emmanuel Odunlade (Principal Solutions Architect, Hinge), Nkemdirim Ogbuaku (Founder, Shared Insights), Uche Aniche (Director, SSEAN), Ugo Okafor (Design Director, Arcepa), Nneka Ukay (Executive Secretary, ISN) and Tochukwu Chukwueke (Founder, Clintonel Innovation Centre and Hardware Nigeria Community), also gave remarks at the programme.

The focus on hardware is a leverage on the technologically or economically advancement which is core in engineering capability needed in the space.

Tochukwu Clinton Chukwueke, Inventor, Industrialist, Change Agent told TechEconomy.ng why they are embarking on this journey:

“Negligence of the hardware sector is one of the major reasons Nigeria is suffering from 33% unemployment rate (one of the highest in the world) and 60% poverty rate. The hardware sector is responsible for producing and maintaining the tools, machines and equipment required by the manufacturing sector which is a major employer of labour.”

“Today, Nigerian industries rely heavily on importation for virtually all the machinery they use, causing Nigeria to lose a lot of forex and the Naira to depreciate in value.”

Themed “Advancing hardware, engineering & manufacturing businesses in Nigeria” the Hardware Convention which took place from August 26 to 28, 2021, was organised with the aim of drawing attention to hardware (engineering) as a core of national development, attracting investments into the Nigerian hardware sector and showcasing the incredible ingenuity of Nigerian hardware innovators, engineers, fabricators and entrepreneurs.

The Nigerian Hardware Ecosystem Map was implemented by Clintonel Innovation Centre (CIC) – a solar powered STEM Centre, Nigeria’s first Makerspace (Engineering Tech Hub) and Hardware Startup Incubator.

Clintonel provides training, mentoring and equipment for young people to create engineering innovations, build indigenous products and start up technology businesses. With a vision to facilitate industrialisation in Nigeria, Clintonel has trained over 600 young persons in Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Renewable (Solar) Energy and Entrepreneurship.