Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Eight start-up clean energy early-stage renewable energy entrepreneurs have received grants from Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) with support from All On Hub.
The grants is for the winners of the 2022 edition of their annual ideation incubation program for early-stage renewable energy entrepreneurs.
The winners are Retile, Powerbox Energy Systems, Danwawo Group LTD, Energy Assured, Solaris GreenTech Hub, Nutriden Agriculture Concept, Letcold Nigeria LTD, Swift Tranzact.
The Rockefeller Foundation funded All On Hub which gave technical support to NCIC.
The demo day event, which took place recently in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The event marked the completion of the Embryo Incubation programme, which gives participants the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a seasoned panel of industry experts for a chance to receive an equity-free grant of $10,000.
Speaking at the event, the CEO of NCIC, Mr. Bankole Oloruntoba, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the growth of renewable energy start-ups in Nigeria. He reflected on the journey of the Embryo Incubation Programme, noting that a total of 50 ideation-stage businesses have gone through the programme with 16 receiving a total of $160,000 grant funding.
Bankole charged the entrepreneurs to remain focused and maximise resources available to them through the NCIC network to accelerate their businesses drawing inspiration from notable Alumni to the previous cohorts.
The third cohort of the incubation programme, which started in May 2022, was designed to close Nigeria’s energy access gap by building a pipeline of early-stage renewable energy enterprises with the potential to scale. The training curriculum covered a wide range of technical and non-technical subjects including strategy and planning, product development, regulatory environment, marketing, finance, and fund-raising.
This year, the programme received 290 applications from which 18 ventures were shortlisted and completed the six-month incubation programme conducted by the NCIC.
In her address, All On CEO Caroline Eboumbou congratulated the participants and commended them for their dedication to supporting the clean energy transition with their bold ideas.
She noted that “the shared vision of All On and NCIC has been to groom early-stage clean energy entrepreneurs, providing them with the key ingredients to enable their dreams of impacting unserved communities a reality.”
