By Angela Nkwocha
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has concluded arrangements to award research grants to the tune of N9 million to three deserving Nigerian startups with proposals for adaptable digital solutions for containing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
A statement from NCC Director, Public Affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde stated that the selection of the three companies followed a careful and painstaking evaluation of 282 entries in the NCC COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon from digital innovation Startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by an evaluation committee set up by the Commission.
He averred that the Executive Vice Chairman, of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has since extended invitations to operators and other industry stakeholders to participate virtually in the Grant/Prize Award ceremony, which is set to hold in the Conference Room of the Commission at 11:00am prompt on Tuesday September 1, 2020.
“The health and economic crisis triggered by the novel COVID-19 Pandemic had challenged the global ICT community to search for digital solutions to address and contain the spread of the virus. Such solutions would allow citizens and businesses to rein in the virus and continue their activities with limited disruptions.
“As a response, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) instituted a programme to award research grants to support Startups and Digital SME’s with adaptable innovative digital solutions that could address present and future impacts of pandemic and epidemic prone diseases in Nigeria”, the statement stated.
He further revealed that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, will give a keynote address and present prizes to the top three Startups with the most promising solutions and will be supported by members of the board of commission of NCC.
