BY: Ikenna Oluka
The Lion Science Park, University of Nigeria presents the first university-led startup competition tagged “Venture Cup Nigeria”.
This is a startup competition that will see startups winning seed funding of various amounts at the two stages of the competition- the geopolitical zonal level and the national level.
The winner at the Grand finale of the competitions grabs an equity free funding of N1,000,000 naira while the 2nd and 3rd positions win N500,000 and N300,000 respectively.
At the first stage of the competition, which is the geopolitical zonal levels, the winners go home with N300,000, N150,000 and N100,000 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
The Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria Nsukka, and the Chairman, Board of Lion Science Park, Professor Benjamin Ozumba stated that “the major goal of this competition is to stimulate the students of tertiary institutions to begin to think innovation and entrepreneurship as the new oil needed to become competitive in the wake of the 4th industrial revolution.
He further stated that the prizes are to support student-led innovative ideas to takeoff. “This will aid easy identification of promising startups for innovation across the tertiary institutions in Nigeria”.
The Manager of Lion Science Park, Chinwe Okoli announced that “the competition is open to innovative ideas from all sectors. However, the best ideas for this competition need to be technology-enabled. This is to encourage the use of technology to build innovative solutions and gradually groom innovators in Nigeria whose ideas disrupt the status quo”
Apply via the link: bit.ly/VentureCupNg. The application for the first ever Venture Cup Nigeria closes on 15th May, 2019.