Seven Nigerian start-ups have each received a $10,000 grant for their innovative clean energy concepts. The award is part of the second edition of the 2021 Enterprise Development Program (EDP), managed by the Nigerian hub, Clean Technology Incubation and Acceleration Foundation, which is in turn supported by the impact investment fund All On, owned by Anglo-Dutch company Shell.
Brigter, Kodar Embedded Technologies, Osomobegbe Global Ventures (OGV), Renerworld Global, Rural LightsUp Energy, Switch Solar and Solconomy are the seven winners of the 2021 Enterprise Development Program (EDP) led by Clean Technology Incubation and Acceleration Foundation, itself and sponsored by All On, an impact investment firm funded by Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell.
A total of 175 entrepreneurs and companies applied to the 2021 program compared to 107 applications in 2020. The objective of this incubation program is to train and help entrepreneurs in the renewable energy market to take innovative ideas from ideation to concept implementation.
For its second edition, the winners were selected from 17 finalists. They completed the six-month online incubation program, which culminated in a day where each of them was able to pitch their project, whether it was about innovative energy storage, an electric mobility-based training platform, energy efficiency, monitoring technology solutions, a mini-grid or waste-to-energy.
“I learned a lot from the incubation program, from business structuring to financial management and marketing. As a co-founder, it means courage and endless possibilities for women in the renewable energy sector,” said Nentaweh Othman of Osomobegbe Global Ventures (OGV), as reported by Nigerian online peer The Sun.
For Bolaji Onolaja of Switch Solar, “affiliation with a large investment firm like All On at this stage facilitates access to more resources to scale even faster.
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Clean Technology Incubation and Acceleration Foundation is a start-up incubator for clean energy inventions and innovations and a driver of climate investment in Africa.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
