Self Help Africa Disburses N70m to 33 Youth Innovators in Kano

Self Help Africa (SHA), in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Mastercard Foundation, has disbursed more than N70 million in grants to 33 young innovators under its Youth in Work Innovative Challenge in Kano.

At the final pitch event held in Kano, Fayan Bounty Produce Limited emerged overall winner and received N5 million, while Agric Technology Limited came second with N4 million and Nutri-Gold Solution secured third position with N3.8 million.

The Lead Judge of the competition and Country Head, Finance and Administration, SHA, Mr Elisha Maida, said the remaining participants also received grants, with no beneficiary receiving less than N1 million.

Maida said the competition was designed to identify innovative solutions to challenges across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, particularly in food production, processing, marketing and livelihoods.

He said the selection process began with more than 600 applications, followed by shortlisting, screening and a five-week incubation programme involving training and mentorship.

According to him, the judges assessed the participants based on their ability to identify problems, provide practical solutions, determine their target beneficiaries and markets, demonstrate business viability and show the potential of their ideas to create employment, particularly for youths and women.

“Everybody received an award because all of them had excellent ideas. Some ideas were more brilliant than others, but all of them did very well,” Maida said.

Earlier, the Country Director of Self Help Africa, Mrs Joy Aderele, said the Innovate2Grow project was focused on strengthening food systems while creating sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities for young people in Kano State.

Aderele said the initiative supported innovations across key agricultural value chains, including groundnuts, rice, sesame, sorghum and millet, which she described as critical to food security, employment and economic growth in northern Nigeria.

She said the innovations had the potential to increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, improve value addition, strengthen market access and create jobs.

Aderele urged stakeholders to continue creating an enabling environment for young people to transform innovative ideas into sustainable businesses.

She added that the event was not only about selecting winners but also about connecting young innovators with investors, industry leaders, government institutions and other partners capable of helping them scale their businesses.

The overall winner, Mrs Fatima Aminu, said she would invest her N5 million grant in purchasing heavy machinery and improved packaging materials to expand her agricultural processing business.

Aminu, who currently employs three people, said she hoped to increase her workforce to between 10 and 12 employees with the support.

She said her business focuses on farming and processing soybean and sorghum into snacks, soybean-peanut blend milk, powder and animal feed.

The Head of Programmes, Agriculture and Livelihood at Self Help Africa, Mrs Hajara Mohammed, said the competition was aimed at giving young people opportunities to transform innovative ideas into viable businesses.

Mohammed said the five-week incubation programme enabled participants to refine their business models and prepare their solutions for the market.

She stressed that the grants were not free cash handouts, explaining that beneficiaries passed through application, screening, incubation and pitching stages before receiving the funds.