Lagos, Nigeria – Entries are opened for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector for the 2023 WASH Innovation Fair and Incubation Programme.
The programme, which is a collaboration between the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S LAGOS) and the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC), is sponsored by FMDQ Group and IHS, one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communication infrastructure in the world.
This year’s WASH Innovation Fair event is the second in the series, with the first WASH Innovation Fair held on November 22, 2021.
IHS (Nigeria) Limited and its partners will be supporting the top five SMEs with technical, commercial and business advice to enable them to take their innovative ideas from initiation to market entry.
At the end of the Incubation Programme, the five winners will receive a cash prize of N3.5 million each. The process involves a call for entry for a Hackathon that will culminate in selecting the top five winners with the smartest and most practical ideas fit for implementation.
The event aims to contribute to the drive by the Federal Government of Nigeria to end open defecation by 2025 and to make clean water and sanitation easily available to all Nigerians in line with Goal 6 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Other attractions during the 2023 event, which commenced March 3, 2023, includes a Roundtable Session, which will hold on April 27, 2023 and a four months incubation programme to assist the winners in implementing their winning ideas.
Executive secretary, FC4S Lagos, Mr Emmanuel Etaderhi, said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with NCIC and IHS (Nigeria) Limited once again to support the fight against open defecation and improve access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
“The WASH Innovation Fair is a unique opportunity to drive innovation and create positive change in the water sector while promoting handwashing habits. Sectors experience progressive growth when innovation is allowed to thrive. We are thrilled that the project aims to scale the innovative ideas in the WASH sector just like we have been doing at NCIC for other cleantech sectors,” programs manager, Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre, Oluwatosin Ajide, said.
