The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has announced the top 30 startups for the Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria (B2MC Nigeria), a national startup competition that identifies and accelerates the most high-impact startups across Nigeria.
The 30 startups will participate in the B2MC Nigeria intensive, virtual boot camp between January 24 and February 18, 2022, which is a collaborative programme between NITDA and MassChallenge, a global network for innovators, with its headquarters in the United States of America.
The participating startups will have access to tailored mentoring and coaching offered by NITDA and MassChallenge mentors, curated curriculum based on startups’ needs focusing on global best practices around innovation and entrepreneurship, and access to the MassChallenge global network. The top 30 startups were selected after a rigorous online selection process evaluated by both local Nigerian innovation experts as well as experts representing the global MassChallenge community.
The boot camp will culminate in a pitching competition that will determine the top 10 startups that will get access to curated support and connectivity into an existing MassChallenge innovation hub like Boston, MA, through a second boot camp.
“Startups play a significant role in the economic growth of every nation, by spurring innovation, injecting competition as well creating jobs. Nigeria’s burgeoning population offers innovative startups an opportunity to access a significantly vast market through developing and implementing viable solutions that are tailored at solving identified micro and macro-economic national challenges. The B2MC program will help facilitate the diversification of the economy and transform every aspect of modern life to attain our key objectives of improving and expanding the economy, in line with the Nigeria Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria (2020-2030) and NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (2021-2024)”, said the director-general of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi.
He said through the collaboration, NITDA and MassChallenge are actively pursuing their commitment to support entrepreneurs from underrepresented regions and across geopolitical zones to create a more equitable distribution of and access to key resources for the growth of these startups.
The B2MC Nigeria selection drive is industry agnostic; thus, a wide range of applications was received from the agricultural, Info-Tech, transport, finance industries to name a few. Applications from the six geopolitical regions were captured to provide an equitable playing field for our startups that will be supported, both within Nigeria and internationally.
“The launch of the first boot camp of the B2MC Nigeria 2021 program is designed to scout for the best of Nigerian technologies to help them sustain and grow within the Nigerian ecosystem and beyond. We’re excited to see the diverse representation of industries ranging from agriculture to health tech among the top 30 startups and to be able to work alongside NITDA to support the success of these businesses,” said the CEO, MassChallenge, Siobhan Dullea.
A statement by NITDA’s head, corporate affairs and external relations, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, listed the list of the startups selected to participate in the B2MC Nigeria boot camp include Agromate Nigeria ‘AgroMate’ is a youth-led agricultural development organisation that leverages technology to improve the agricultural sector; Aadana Smart Storage System ‘Aadana’ is a solar-powered smart storage system that is smart. It can control/regulate the internal condition of the system; Agbero helps pre-book public inter-state travel vehicles to reduce waiting time and helps track real-time location for security.
Alaajo helps users achieve their financial goals through savings automation, access to spot credit and simplified mortgage finance, Avas Technologies Limited ‘AVAS Tech’ addresses prevalent identity verification problems across sub-Saharan Africa using customised to environment biometric solutions; Bridgingspace, an online platform that helps people with anxiety and depression get easy access to online counselling, support groups and self-care; Bulkie Share is a platform that makes it easy and convenient for users to jointly purchase items direct from farmers and manufacturers and then share accordingly; Cartrep uses AI to connect last-mile logistics companies with their customers within and outside their geographical coverage; Cyber Security Challenge Nigeria Initiative focuses on identifying Nigeria’s next generation of cyber security professionals, connecting Nigeria’s best and brightest to the cyber security industry, creating an enabling platform for skill acquisition, youth empowerment and local content development in the area of information and cybersecurity towards national and economic development of Nigeria; Day Done, an agricultural, e-commerce platform that brings farm produce and experience (using data) to the doorstep and fingertip of every consumer; Dozzy Agricultural Enterprise, an integrated fish farm focused on closing the gap between market demand and supply of fish food.
Others include Edig-Ken Ventures, a hydroponics fodder production company which ensures animal feed is grown without soil using little water and seed. Provides sufficient, all-season availability and highly nutritional feed called fodder for livestock farmers to purchase for their animals; Elcornel Business Enterprise, a farm dedicated to using high quality, modern and efficient food technology to meet the demands for organic and quality food; Eteicon, a company which uses recycled waste-paper to produce very hygienic and affordable toilet tissue for low-income families; Evet Inc, a cloud-based platform that connects farmers to on-demand agronomy advisory support, veterinary extension service and farm inputs; Fuelintellisense Nigeria Limited, a fuel management system that helps facilitate fuel inventory management and provides authorisation for fuel dispensing; Ghats Technology Innovative, a company owned by a fresh graduate with a higher national diploma (HND) in Electronics & Telecommunications.
Others are High Soles Farm Tours, which leverages technology to directly connect farmers with consumers that care about purchasing fresh produce at a lower cost; Hydronamics, a company which helps bring clean running water to every home in developing countries, using pre-paid water delivery services; Maximus Recycling Solutions, which gives households with a chance to generate value from their waste and provide a reliable supply of raw material to the local recycling industry; Moon Innovations, a building tech company which generates a smart system for smart housing across Africa; Mysolarbid Limited, which helps homes and businesses save up to 70 per cent on their monthly electricity costs through access to clean energy solutions; Negs Empire, a product and service-based agrictech company, majored in beekeeping, honey-packaging and farm management with probiotics; Northflx Nigeria Limited, a video streaming platform that targets Africans and those in diaspora with local contents that connect them with their culture.
Others startups are Roborep, a platform which helps genuine medical companies find doctors, hospitals and pharmacies to sell their medical products to; Solio Leathers, a computer software integrated footwear manufacturing company with mission to drive footwear market in Nigeria and Africa; Spacehunt Inc20, a mobile app that creates a virtual immersive experience for properties/space renters and buyers; Specxs Care Limited, a licensed healthcare company that is leveraging technology to increase access to healthcare using digital technology; Sublime Squares, developed an IoT based smart waste-bin solution to optimize the entire waste management process and The Footwear Academy, a hub that provides holistic solutions around footwear manufacturing and connects African shoemakers to the world.
