NINJA Accelerator Program in Nigeria – 2nd Cohort

About the program

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in 2021, commissioned an ecosystem mapping report of Nigeria’s startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem with emphasis on the agritech, health tech, or cleantech sectors. The ecosystem mapping report highlighted noticeable gaps in the following subsectors within the Agritech innovation space; logistics, cold chain monitoring, and insurance. In the HealthTech sector, gaps were discovered in nutrition, mobile health/fitness apps, healthcare marketing, and many more subsectors. Unlike the Agric and healthtech sectors, the cleantech sector in Nigeria is in its growth stage, and with the global shift towards environmental sustainability and responsibility, there is a need to support innovation in this sector.

Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) Accelerator in Nigeria – 2nd Cohort is designed to enhance the Nigerian startup ecosystem by strengthening underperforming and necessary sub-sectors in sectors (such as agriculture, health, and cleantech) in Nigeria. It is expected to have collaboration among participants in the supply chain, contribute significantly to economic growth and promote promising youths with innovative businesses.

The 2nd cohort of the Ninja Accelerator will be conducted entirely online.

What we’re looking for

Foreign startups which have not yet been incorporated/operated in Nigeria and are looking into the Nigerian market. (startups in other African countries, Asia, Europe and other regions are welcome to apply)
Nigerian startups which are already incorporated and have business operation in Nigeria

Program value

• Expansion
  Opportunity for foreign startups to expand into the Nigerian market
• Opportunity
  Opportunity to pitch to Japanese investors and corporates at the largest African-focused startup event in Japan
• Legal Support
  Support with legal incorporation of selected foreign startups in Nigeria

Eligibility criteria

• Your company must be legally incorporated in your country.
• Sector must be agritech, health tech or clean tech (including finance/logistics in those sectors etc.
• If you are a foreign company, your company must be legally incorporated with CAC in Nigeria prior to the commencement of the training.
• Applicants’ startups should be innovative and technology-driven.
• The funding stage should be pre-Seed, Seed and pre-Series A