JICA grants $37,000 seed funding to three Nigerian startups

JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) is an official development assistance initiative in Japan but has a branch in Nigeria too. And, they have just granted three Nigerian Startups funds totaling $37,000 at the recent Idea Hatch (iHatch) incubation program’s Cohort II Demo Day and Cohort III opening ceremony. The idea has always been to encourage creative concepts, encouraging them to become entrepreneurial firms that support Nigeria's digital economy goals.

The program that was held in Abuja was the idea of the NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) but to fulfill the part of granting the seeding funding to startups, they partnered with JICA who issued the funds to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winners startups who got $15,000, $12,000 and $10,000 respectively. 

According to Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdulahiil, the plan is to discover and empower young people with entrepreneurial concepts, offering extensive coaching and guidance to develop products ready for the market. Winners from the previous year, each granted $15,000, have together amassed $274,000 and generated 179 job opportunities.

Also, he mentioned that the iHatch program provides a concentrated five-month incubation period that enhances business concepts by utilizing coaching, lectures, and boot camps to create scalable models, with a particular emphasis on youth, innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology. 

The plan is to extend the program to a wider range covering all 36 States in the country and making sure that more and more jobs are being created and more people are being digitally inclined. 

During the event, JICA's Japan Ambassador to Nigeria, Kazuyoshi Matsunaga praised the growing entrepreneurial activity in Nigeria, admiring the resilience of startups in tackling crucial social problems despite security issues and infrastructure shortcomings. He revealed that this is the main reason the Japanese community is putting up good support through the iHatch, NINJA, and IICA schemes. 

He also expressed his belief that Nigerian start-ups should learn, via such collaborations, not just Japanese technology and expertise but also adopt business etiquette like punctuality and the spirit of KAIZEN. KAIZEN refers to ongoing business practices that enhance all operations and engage all staff, from the CEO to assembly line workers, in continuous improvement.

Furthermore, he said, "Startups are seen as catalysts for this transformation, bringing fresh ideas, innovative technologies, and new employment opportunities to the country." In the end, he declared that Nigeria will sustain its growth and prosperity in the future, but it is crucial to focus on economic diversification.

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