MoneyAfrica has emerged as the inaugural winner of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Trust Fund (NSIA) Prize for Innovation.
The top three winners received a mix of cash and equity to support their start-ups. This will be disbursed in ratio 75:25 consisting of equity and cash respectively in exchange for a stake in their company. The remaining seven winners received cash prizes.
MoneyAfrica emerged the overall winner with a cash prize of $25,000, Extension Africa (Exaf) came second and received a cash prize of $17,500 while LegitCar came third with a cash prize of $12,500.
The remaining seven Start-Ups shared the fourth position with cash each receiving a cash prize of $5,000. They are Apace Tech Solutions, Capsa Technology, CreditCheck, Kobopay, TrueQ, Vela Finance and Ya-Lo Technologies.
The ten winners emerged from a process, which started with review of 2,000 entries, six months of developing and refining of ideas over two rounds of eliminations.
To select the top three winners, the NSIA held a Demo Day over the weekend in Lagos, during which the selected top 10 Start-Ups pitched their ideas before a panel of judges, and an audience including banking executives and venture capital companies executives.
Speaking at the Demo Day, Managing Director/Chief Executive, NSIA, said:
“The NSIA Prize for Innovation is a multi-year commitment by the NSIA to empower budding Nigerian innovators, in a bid to catalyse the rise of the digital economy.
We are mindful that Digital is the new wealth code; it is a leveller and devoid of barriers to entry. Since we announced the NSIA Prize for Innovation, we have received many entries, each of which attests to the limitless spirit of innovation that abound in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The entries are as niche and as multifaceted as can be.
Although this Programme rewards winners with a sum of USD255,000, the real impact extends beyond the cash awards or event. Our core strategy of attracting third-party capital will result in many of these innovators securing funding from financiers far and wide. NSIA has demonstrated its ability to crowd-in incremental capital from global funding partners to address infrastructure needs across sectors.
As an institution with a mandate to provide a saving base for the next generation of Nigerians, we see innovation as a critical element of this objective hence our continued support for innovation. Through the NSIA Prize for Innovation, we are taking incremental steps to deepen our mandate to future generations by ensuring we prioritize sectors that promote their creativity and ingenuity.”
