This acquisition, recently sanctioned by Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority, allows Rise to operate in Kenya without needing additional licences. 

Hisa, a well-established company in the Kenyan stock trading market, will maintain its brand identity and retain its entire workforce, signalling a continuity in operations.

Eke Urum, CEO of Rise, said the company has no immediate plans to alter Hisa’s structure. “We see value in understanding the company’s dynamics and culture before making any changes,” Urum commented. 

He noted that the Hisa brand aligns strongly with the Kenyan audience, and this will remain a key asset as Rise integrates the startup into its portfolio.

The terms of the acquisition were not publicly disclosed, though insiders suggest a combination of stock and cash was involved. Hisa’s co-founder, Eric Jackson, will now transition into the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), a position he previously held, while his fellow co-founder, Eric Asuma, who also founded the Kenyan Wall Street, will continue as a strategic advisor. 

Leah Njoroge, formerly an investment analyst and finance associate, has been promoted to head operations, reporting directly to Urum.

Strengthening its foothold in the Kenyan market, Rise plans to focus initially on understanding its new acquisition’s operational structure before considering external leadership hires. “We will look at leadership once we’ve seen improvements in operations,” said Urum, highlighting a cautious approach to making significant changes.

Hisa, which was founded in 2020, has garnered support from investors such as Faida Investment Bank, alongside Ham Serunjogi and Majid Moujaled, co-founders of Chipper Cash. While Urum did not comment on whether all existing investors will remain, he confirmed that Faida continues to back the company.

For Rise, this acquisition is its second within the past year, following its takeover of digital trading platform Chaka in 2023.

Themed “Rise and Impact,” the event helped raise awareness about the 2024 Rise Challenge and encouraged applications from promising Nigerian youth.

The event was moderated by Nigerian influencer Jola Ayeye and featured real-time conversations about the Rise Challenge and its benefits, testimonial sessions from past Nigerian Rise Winners, as well as engagement with Rise partners to foster innovation, social entrepreneurship, and global citizenship and encourage participants to apply.

Rise seeks out talented individuals aged 15 to 17 and empowers them to work on solving humanity’s most pressing challenges with an annual program, the Rise Challenge.

The program provides a range of benefits to its Global Winners, including need-based scholarships, mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to career development resources. Interested applicants can apply here.

With Rise Global Winners emerging from Nigeria annually, the country has proven to be a home to some of the most talented and innovative young people globally.

Since its inception, Rise has identified and supported more than 300 Global Winners from around the world, including 13 from Nigeria.

These remarkable young leaders are working on a wide range of projects, from developing sustainable solutions to promoting education access for girls, amongst others.

The “Rise and Impact” event is part of Rise’s ongoing commitment to expanding its reach and identifying exceptional young leaders from diverse backgrounds and grassroots communities in Nigeria. Eight schools from Lagos were present at the event: Abibat Mogaji Millennium Senior Secondary School, Keke Senior High School, Government Senior College Agege, Lagos Baptist Senior Secondary School, Lagos Baptist Senior College, Sango Senior Secondary School, Agege State Senior High School Oyewole, and Vetland Senior Grammar School.

To further ensure that more promising Nigerian youths have access to the opportunities offered by the Rise Challenge, Rise works with local partners Ingressive 4 Good and Build Nigeria.

During the event, Ingressive 4 Good provided a live demo registration exercise for interested registrants to commence registration before the deadline, January 17, 2024.

Rise, through the partners, is poised to offer the support and resources applicants need to make a lasting impact on their communities and the world, irrespective of background and academic experiences.

Unlike many traditional applications, Rise uses videos, projects, and group interviews so applicants have multiple opportunities to showcase their potential.

For applicants with low or no access to technology, Rise offers an alternative pathway through a paper application.

The call for applications for the 2024 Rise Challenge is ongoing and applicants are urged to complete their application by January 17th, 2024.

Of this number, young people will account for roughly 70% of the population. This youth bulge presents a serious challenge to overcoming poverty and inequality in Nigeria, with demand for jobs expected to skyrocket while unemployment remains the reality for many Nigerians.

To prepare for this demographic shift, young Nigerians must look to innovation and entrepreneurship as both a viable career option and a step towards creating jobs and new opportunities for their communities.

But this is no easy path and young entrepreneurs tend to lack the knowledge, resources, training and network needed to be successful. It is therefore critical that we recognise the important role that young people play in creating the Nigeria of the future – and it begins by giving them a platform to be seen.

In doing so, below are ten inspiring Nigerian youth innovators from Ekiti State to watch out for in 2023 as the country moves towards creating a better tomorrow:

1. TechHead Nigeria

TechHead Nigeria is a one-stop shop for automated household devices, bringing endless possibilities to homes with the help of Artificial Intelligence (Al) and an ecosystem of smart devices.

This idea was born out of a passion for engineering and modern technology. To the team, while AI is still in its developing stages, and as every day sees new innovations and devices emerge, the technology is ready to be commercialised for home-use and TechHead aims to ensure that Ado Ekiti and Nigeria are not left behind. 

2. ORMD Datalab

ORMD Datalab is a company trading in memes – an AI-powered mobile application that uses automated algorithms to create memes and humorous captions, including videos, graphics, animations, fliers, and any graphics from any event or situation, and shares them with your friends for view.

Users can also trade their memes for money and any intellectual property they create using ORMD Datalab’s AI algorithms.

3. Gigsdev

Gigsdev is building an innovation and technology incubation centre (a “technology village”) where innovation can be fostered in Ekiti State. They want to provide 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity and internet connections for continuous and unbroken research and development for innovators and computer technology personnel.

In doing so, the village hopes to be an enabling environment for mentorship and solution incubation with locally sourced raw materials.

4. Motivar

Motivar is a social enterprise focused on solving the distribution problem of digital skill training and education, especially for young people with limited access due to their financial or social situation.

Launched in 2014, the company seeks to provide learner-support services and be the easiest way for students to find, start and complete digital courses. The team of five has just completed the first of four stages of their pilot, with the idea to distribute the service via software products and community centres.

5. The Health City

The idea behind The Health City emerged from a survey the team conducted, which showed that more than 70% of respondents take care of the majority of their sexual-related health issues on their own or with the help of their friends. This inspired the team to develop a chatbot on their website for the Nigerian youth to speak with a doctor about their sexual health concerns for free.

The Health City had to place restrictions on this chat box due to the overwhelming demand, which inspired them to develop a complete solution. For a fee, the youth can access a variety of sexual health services, including virtual consultations, referrals for physical services (including lab testing and pharmacies), and read accurate sexual health information via a health blog. 

6. RISE

The Rice Inventory Storage and Exchange (or RISE for short) is a commodity storage system that issues electronic receipts to people storing their goods on the premises. These receipts can then be traded between farmers or buyers and later redeemed when taking goods out of storage.

This is all in an effort to support farmers in their post-harvest stage by giving them access to storage facilities and harvest protection products, such as Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) storage bags and chemicals like Actellic Super. In the future, RISE also hopes to provide farmers with access to short-term loans and create opportunities for smallholder farmers to store their paddy for a longer time before selling, thus generating maximum revenue on their produce.

7. Raising Royals

School curriculums are often criticised for not focusing enough on the non-academic elements of raising a child – so to address this issue, Raising Royals is using internet-based communications technology to provide non-academic lessons to young people across the county.

Focusing on topics such as leadership, financial education, sex education, resilience and character, the idea behind Raising Royals was born from the belief that more could be done to better prepare students for life ahead, with the team committed to realising this mission.

8. Solarify Africa

Solarify Africa is an inclusive youth-led organization with two unique missions: To eradicate energy poverty across rural communities and institutions of learning in Nigeria, and to provide secondary school students with access to the internet, tech gadgets, educational software and pieces of training to bring the education system into the 21st Century.

This vision was triggered by the initiative of the former Governor of Ekiti State (Mr Ayodele Fayose), who provided the team with laptops, internet access and software while they were studying at Ekiti State Government College. 

9. wRide

wRide is a transport innovation which creates a better bike transportation system in Ekiti State using digitization and data science. In the next three years, wRide wants to see Ekiti bike transportation system digitized and corporate.

10. SafeBuy

Safebuy is a digital marketplace that connects farmers, vendors and customers looking for a quick and dependable platform to buy, sell and trade fresh produce. This is all in an effort to improve the visibility of food-providers by giving users a space to browse all of their regular items, order them for same-day delivery, and pay for them in a safe and affordable manner.

While still in its development stage, SafeBuy is on track to deliver a roadmap this year with all the essential features and start its journey towards becoming a leader in the Nigerian market.

To support the growth and scalability of these youth-led innovations, Innovate UK KTN – through their Global Alliance Africa project –  has partnered with the Lagos Business School’s Enterprise Development Centre to upskill their entrepreneurial expertise and provide them with pitch training ahead of the opportunity to showcase their unique ideas to a global platform of innovation investors, advocates and enablers.

If you would like to support these innovators on their journey to success, you can contact joshua.adedeji@iuk.ktn-global.org