The Sterling Bank-sponsored Startup Pitch will be rounding off shortly. From a pool of around 700 entries, 10 startups have made it to the grand finale. The top 3 contestants will share a total N10m grant – N5m, N3m, and N2m will go to the winner, first and second runners up respectively.
The Startup Pitch is the brainchild of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), a private-sector led tink-tank and policy advocate founded by the one-time Nigeria interim president, Chief Ernest Shonekan. The entrepreneurship-driven initiative connects Nigeria bourgeoning MSMEs (Medium-Scale Micro Enterprises) that have been in business for not less than 5 years to financing opportunities through rigorous rounds of pitching overseen by a select panel of judges.
The finalists for this year’s pitching event are Agripple,an agro-based platform that connects farmers to consumers; Notitia, a health-tech platform providing data solution for the health sector, Tiny Hearts Technology, another health solution startup that sells solar-based phototherapy crib for the treatment of jaundice in newborn. Others are AfriNET (inverterless offgrid power solution), Doctoora E-Health (health professional marketplace); Gatepass (facility management), Loystar (retailing), Gricd (cooling system), Green Axis (waste management), and Phaheem Pharmaceuticals (healthcare and power solution).
Sterling Bank took over the sponsorship of the Startup Pitch in 2018 to broaden its enterprise footprint. However, the sponsorship has enriched the small business ecosystem while providing financial backup and market exposure for credible ideas. Entrepreneurs across Nigeria need to watch out for the 2020 edition of the Startup Pitch to stand a chance of receiving any of the grants.
