The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and Africa’s most agile company, Sterling bank, will today announce the top three winners of the #NES 25 Startups Pitching Event during the closing plenary of the 25th Nigerian Economic Summit meeting. The top three will get ₦5 million, ₦3 million and ₦2 million in grants, respectively. A ₦1 million audience choice prize will also be awarded to one of the finalists.
Almost 700 entries were received from early-stage startups interested in pitching their ventures, but 10 finalists emerged from a rigorous selection process. The 10 finalists pitched their businesses to venture capitalists and investors on Sunday, 6th October 2019 at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja.
Remarkably, 40 percent of the companies that made the final list have women in leadership positions; while 60 percent were tech-focused with 50 percent software-enabled pitches. Entries were received from sectors that include Food and Agriculture, Tech, Health, Waste/Environment, Industry/Manufacturing, and Energy.
Ventures that made it to the finals are Agriple, Notitia, Phaheem Pharmaceuticals Limited, Tiny Hearts Technology, AfriNET Power Tech Solutions, Doctoora E-Health Ltd, GatePass, Loystar, Gricd Services Limited and Green Axis. They are all early-stage startups registered in Nigeria and have been doing business for no more than five years.
Meet the ventures Agriple: an online platform developed to directly connect farmers with consumers and off-takers to reduce farm to fork time, increase wealth, and reduce post-harvest loss.
Notitia: a digital health startup, focused on developing intelligent solutions to address the paucity of health data in emerging markets around the world.
Phaheem Pharmaceuticals Limited: a business venture and enterprise, with the aim of promoting improved healthcare delivery in Nigeria. The product named Phaheem Plate is used to convert footfall to electricity.
Tiny Hearts Technology: a technology company that crafts innovative medical solutions for thriving communities. It invented “Crib A’glow” unit – a solar-powered foldable phototherapy crib for the treatment of newborn jaundice – for use in hospitals and health centres in both urban and rural communities.
AfriNET Power Tech Solutions: a renewable energy company that has developed a solar energy solution called ‘Inverterless’. The solution is entirely on DC and it gives a great boost to energy efficiency campaigns; with the use of energy-saving appliances for households and workplaces.
Doctoora E-Health Ltd: a health tech startup providing healthcare professionals with medical facility rentals for their private practice. Doctoora also runs an online marketplace where consumers can search and book for healthcare professionals within the Doctoora network.
GatePass: helps residents of estates, neighborhoods and multi-family communities manage day-to-day interactions including bill payments, visitor management and communication comfortably from their mobile phones.
Loystar: a retail and loyalty platform designed to help micro, small and medium businesses sell and drive repeat sales in their business.
Gricd Services Limited: builds IoT-enabled, active cooling devices that are used in the storage and transportation of temperature-sensitive commodity. The flagship product, the Frij, is a smart active cooling device used in the transportation and storage of temperature-sensitive commodities.
Green Axis: a social enterprise that promotes environmental sustainability, socio-economic development, and community health. It focuses on improving the access to waste management service, poor waste disposal culture which is very popular amongst the underserved communities. Green axis uses a low-cost sustainable model alongside a technological approach to tackle the problem.
About Startups Pitching Event
In 2017, the NESG introduced a Start-ups Pitching Event as part of the annual Nigerian Economic Summit (NES). It aims to help start-ups get the funds they need to grow their business and, in some cases, mentorship and professional advisory services, among others.
Consecutively in 2018 and 2019, Sterling Bank powered the NES Startups Pitching Events to provide innovators and entrepreneurs from all over Nigeria with the opportunity to pitch their start-ups, collaborate and interact with individuals and organisations interested in promoting entrepreneurship.
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