The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has announced the winners of the third edition of its flagship innovation programme.
The prize, which supports early-stage Nigerian startups developing transformative solutions across healthcare, agriculture, and education, attracted over 5,000 applications.
Ten finalists emerged after a rigorous selection process and pitched their ideas at the NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI 3.0) Demo Day in Abuja.
The NPI programme is a multi-year initiative aimed at identifying innovative technological solutions developed by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.
At the end of the final pitching round, D-Olivette Labs, developers of AI-powered bio-digesters that convert farm waste into clean energy and organic fertiliser, won the top prize with a combined reward of $115,000.
This includes $100,000 in equity investment from the NSIA and a $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize.
Promise Point, a woman-led cassava processing enterprise, clinched second with total winnings of $85,000 — comprising a $70,000 NSIA prize and a $15,000 Cascador award.
In third place, GeroCare, a health-tech platform, won $55,000, including $50,000 from NSIA and a $5,000 Healthcare Innovation Prize from the presidential initiative for unlocking the healthcare value chain (PVAC).
Other winners of the PVAC and Cascador impact prizes are Sosocare, a low-cost health insurance platform ($5,000), FriendsnPal, a predictive AI-powered mental health platform ($15,000), and Mediverse, a laboratory automation platform ($5,000).
In addition to the funds, the winners were rewarded with a five-week all-expense-paid trip to Draper University, Silicon Valley, United States.
Speaking at the event, Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, commended the initiative, saying it aligns with Nigeria’s drive to build a knowledge-based economy led by youth, technology, and innovation.
Edun also said the three focused areas of investments – health, education and agriculture — are the country’s key essentials.
“I think it’s very important that the focus of healthcare, the focus of education, and indeed in agriculture, particularly agriculture, ” he said.
“We need your ideas, we need your products, new methodologies, because we have to increase agricultural production.
“Productivity is relatively one, and we need to move ahead, we are really behind other countries.”
On his part, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of NSIA, said the prize is part of the authority’s broader mission to drive innovation, job creation, and socio-economic transformation.
“This platform now offers education, equity, and exposure not only to the 10 finalists but also to the over 5,000 Africans who applied,” Umar-Sadiq said.
He also announced the launch of a new ‘Impact Innovation Fund,’ co-developed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), to offer long-term local currency capital to scalable Nigerian startups.
Joseph Giblin, economic counsellor, United States Embassy in Abuja, said the country is pleased and supportive of innovation here in Nigeria.
“How could you be against innovation? Innovation is what drives progress. Progress makes the world go forward. This is a very good thing. It’s good in Nigeria. It’s good worldwide,” Giblin said.
Abdu Mukhtar, national coordinator, PVAC, said there was an urgent need to mobilise private sector resources and incentivise local manufacturing of healthcare products towards building an ecosystem for Nigerian entrepreneurs to participate in improving service delivery for healthcare.
