Startups in Africa: NINJA Grand Finals

About the event

JICA (the Japan International Cooperation Agency) and Nikkei are to host a pitch event focusing on new technology businesses in Nigeria and broadcast the live Zoom webinar in English and Japanese (simultaneous translation). Six entrepreneurs selected from the NINJA accelerator program will have pitch presentations and appeal to their new tech businesses in front of hundreds of web audiences mainly from the Japanese business society. We believe this pitch event would be a milestone in strengthening business ties between Japan and African countries.

The event seeks to showcase the pitch of the grand finalists of the ongoing Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) accelerator program competition organized by JICA, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), and the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) in partnership with Ventures Park.

The aim of the event is to strengthen the ties between Japan and African countries. This conference and pitching event consists of a panel discussion and the pitch event by 6 innovative startups in Nigeria as well as other countries who love to expand their business into the Nigerian market.

At the event, several Japanese specialists will also have keynote speeches and panel discussion to talk about the potential Japan-Africa partnership and to encourage more investments in African startups.

This webinar will provide a good opportunity for you to have investments or business alliances with Japanese companies.

The agenda

08:30am UTC+1  Opening Remarks: Mr. Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Federal Republic of Nigeria

08:40am UTC+1  Keynote #1: Mr. Yau Isa Garba, Head of National Center for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (NCAIR)

08:45am UTC+1  Keynote #2: Mr. Yakubu Musa Yakubu, Head of Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI)

08:50am UTC+1  Panel Discussion: 

• Mr. Shibusawa Ken, Trustee and Vice Chairman of Africa Project Team, KEIZAI DOYUKAI (Japan Association of Corporate Executives)
• Mr. Tsubaki Susumu, Representative Partner, AAIC Holdings CEO
• Ms. Sano Keiko, Director General, Economic Development Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

09:40am UTC+1  Presentation: Mr. Fuwa Naonobu, JICA Expert, Startup Ecosystem Enhancement

09:50am UTC+1   Pitch Session

10:45am UTC+1  Voting

10:55am UTC+1  Closing Remarks

Joining Info

For joining the pitch event, please complete the registration form. JICA and Nikkei will then send you the access ID and passcode via email by the day.

*Project NINJA is an initiative to support entrepreneurs and to create business innovation in emerging countries including Africa. JICA intends to collaborate with various stakeholders to develop entrepreneurship, strengthen corporate management capacity, match up with Japanese companies and promote investment in startups.