Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) 2022

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is launching the second Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) competition this 2022 in an effort to continuously support startup companies in Tanzania. Through the initiative, up to two outstanding companies will be selected and awarded further financial and technical support for their business as well as the opportunity to present their businesses to Japanese stakeholders. Interested applicants can submit their entries by 28th January 2022. This is the second time JICA is organizing the business plan competition following the NINJA project last year, which was created in response to COVID – 19.

As part of the NINJA project, JICA Tanzania Office is planning to collaborate with startups that have solutions and have created positive impacts for Tanzanian social issues/challenges through their innovative products, services, and/or business models.

Eligibility criteria

As a next step, JICA Tanzania Office has launched the second competition of NINJA in 2022, in collaboration with Seedspace. The criteria for application are  as follows:

1. Have innovative product(s) or service(s) or business model in response or adaptable to social issues/problems in the following sectors:

• • Agriculture
  • Industrial Development
  • Infrastructure (Transportation)
  • Infrastructure (Energy)
  • Health/Medical
  • Water

2. Have their head office or a branch in Tanzania.
3. Be a profit/non-profit organization registered as an independent legal entity. Proposals from individuals will not be considered.
4. Have a very strong management team of at least 2 people.

Benefits

Selected startups will be receiving financial support of up to USD 8,500 per company and technical support for their startups as well as opportunities to introduce their business to Japanese stakeholders (e.g. JICA stakeholders, Japanese companies, Japanese investors, etc)