Nigeria: 6 Student-led Startups Joins Uninnovators Program

The six student-led firms from Nigeria selected for the Uninnovators’ firms-in-Residence initiative, which aims to spur innovation in a few postsecondary institutions in Africa, have been announced by Co-Creation Hub (CcHub).

The Make-IT in Africa project, run by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and CcHub have partnered to launch a new co-funded initiative to support innovation within African universities, according to a July report from Disrupt Africa.

In August 2023, thirty startup teams were chosen from 256 submissions, and they underwent an initial six-week design sprint to hone their pitches and innovations in front of the Demo Day.

Six teams, including Smart BiliWrapper from the University of Lagos, TY Dami Energy from the University of Lagos, Slim Re Biopsy from the University of Ibadan, Pharmalink from the University of Lagos, Medherence from the University of Ibadan, and ConnectCare from the University of Ibadan, were chosen for the next round.

Twelve more student-run businesses will be chosen from Kenya and Namibia for the Uninnovators program. These businesses will then have the chance to travel to Germany for hands-on sessions to help strengthen their prototypes and engage in knowledge exchange with top researchers in their fields.

Then, as needed, they will work with industry partners to construct and deploy their MVPs through the use of funding and advisory services. In order to highlight the crucial role that higher education institutions play in the larger innovation ecosystem on the continent, the program will end in a two-day summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where companies will present to an international audience of investors and stakeholders.