Shell-funded impact investment company, All On in partnership with the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center (NCIC) has awarded a grant of $80,000 to eight clean energy start-ups in the 2022 edition of the annual incubation program for early-stage renewable energy entrepreneurs.
The grant winners include Retile, Let It Cold, Energy Assured, Nutrideen Agriculture Concepts, Danwawo Group, Swift Tranzact, Solaris Greentech Hub and Powerbox Energy Systems.
“At a Demo Day event on October 27, the start-ups pitched their business plans to a seasoned, varied panel of judges for a chance to win $10,000 grant funding,” All On said in a release.
“Of the eight winning pitches, four were delivered by women founders/CEOs – a notable sign of the positive strides being made by women entrepreneurs in the sector. The women-led ventures are: Let It Cold, Energy Assured, Danwawo and Solaris.”
Furthermore, the incubation program, which started training new cohorts in May 2022, aims to contribute to the reduction of Nigeria’s energy-access gap by building a pipeline of early-stage renewable energy enterprises with the potential to scale.
This year, the program received 290 applications from which 18 ventures were shortlisted and completed the six-month incubation program conducted by the NCIC. The Demo Day event marks the completion of the Embryo Incubation program (EIP).
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In her address, Caroline Eboumbou, CEO, All On, congratulated the participants and commended them for their dedication to supporting the clean energy transition with their bold ideas.
“The shared vision of All On and NCIC has been to groom early-stage clean energy entrepreneurs, providing them with the key ingredients to enable their dreams of impacting unserved communities a reality,” Eboumbou said.
She further charged the entrepreneurs not to relent and reaffirmed All On’s commitment to their continued development in the future.
On the other hand, Bankole Oloruntoba, CEO, NCIC reiterated the organization’s commitment to the growth of renewable energy start-ups in Nigeria, as he reflected on the journey of the EIP noting that over 50 ideation-stage businesses have gone through the program.
Bankole further thanked All On for its partnership which over the last three years has provided funding and capacity-building support to the renewable energy start-ups.
In addition, NCIC’s CEO charged the entrepreneurs to remain focused and maximize the resources available to them through the NCIC network to accelerate the growth of their businesses, drawing inspiration from notable alumni from the previous cohorts.
One of the female recipients of the $10,000 grant, Zainab Abdulwaheed, co-founder of Let It Cold, thanked All On and NCIC for the opportunity.
She said, “My business has benefited from my participation in the incubation program over the last six months, and we have improved our understanding of how a business operates.”
According to Damilola Asaleye, vice president, Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN), the innovative ideas during this year’s incubation program were outstanding, original, and demonstrated sustainability.
“The quality of the pitches was top-notch. They all demonstrated that Africa and Nigeria can solve energy poverty with locally developed solutions. NCIC and All On are truly unlocking potential,” she said.
Sele Inegbedion, manager, All On Hub affirmed the success of the EIP over the last 3 years.
“The All On Hub has deployed $240,000 to this program series in grant awards, and it has proven to be a worthwhile commitment,” Sele said.
Some of the clean energy ideas presented at this year’s pitching event include solar-powered cooling systems, cold storage solutions, solar home systems (SHS), solar generators, energy efficiency technologies and biogas production.
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