The 2026 InnovateNaija initiative has recognised 15 national finalists, with Farm Speak co-founder Adaeze Akpagbula emerging as the overall winner and receiving a N100 million prize.

The final pitch event and awards ceremony, held in Abuja on Wednesday, marked the culmination of the initiative implemented through a partnership between the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and AfriLabs.

Akpagbula won for PenKeep, a smart poultry climate control system developed to help farmers address climate-related challenges across poultry, aquaculture, greenhouse and smart irrigation systems.

Kingsley Udeh, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, who represented President Bola Tinubu at the event, said the quality of the innovations presented showed the depth of talent available across Nigeria.

He said the administration was committed to taking Nigerian innovations beyond ideas and prototypes by linking researchers and innovators with investors, industries and other stakeholders who can support commercialisation.

“Commercialisation is important because it allows our innovators and researchers to generate revenue from their work while contributing to economic growth, job creation and improved livelihoods,” he said.

Udeh also disclosed that President Tinubu had forwarded a bill to the National Assembly seeking the establishment of a National Research and Innovation Development Fund. The proposed fund would provide dedicated financing for research, inventions and innovations with commercial potential.

The minister said the Federal Government also wants Nigerian-made products to compete on the basis of quality. He urged Nigerians to patronise locally developed products, saying they meet required standards and offer value.

Nanko Madu, AfriLabs director of programmes, said the organisation partnered with NASENI to build a platform for identifying, supporting and celebrating innovators irrespective of where they are located.

Madu said InnovateNaija was created to offer Nigerians aged 15 to 40 mentorship, technical support, funding, market access and visibility. She added that FutureMakers is targeted at younger innovators between five and 16.

According to Madu, the programmes have reached more than 3,500 young Nigerian innovators across the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

She said the innovations supported through the programmes span agriculture, manufacturing, renewable energy, healthcare, education and climate technology.

Madu said the initiative is particularly significant because Nigeria remains heavily dependent on imported technologies that may not adequately account for the country’s infrastructure, electricity supply, climate, languages, cultural realities and purchasing power.

“We have solutions being developed in classrooms, workshops and laboratories across Nigeria. The challenge is identifying them, nurturing them and creating opportunities for them to scale,” she said.

The InnovateNaija programme produced 36 state champions, with each initially receiving N2.5 million. The top three national winners received N100 million, N30 million and N20 million respectively.

Governors of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Plateau and Kaduna states also supported the programme by matching the N2.5 million grants given to their respective state champions. This increased the total support for each of those winners to N5 million.

Akpagbula said the N100 million prize would help Farm Speak increase its production capacity and reach more farmers.

The agricultural engineer, who co-founded the company with her husband, Kita Okoma, said farmers could lose a substantial portion of their produce as a result of climate-related challenges.

She identified funding, infrastructure and electricity as some of the major difficulties facing hardware innovators in Nigeria.

Beyond the national prizes, three inter-agency winners received development grants totalling N140 million, while three intra-agency winners received N22.5 million in cash prizes.

Busola Folayan, head of the NASENI innovation hub, said the agency is expanding its innovation programmes beyond established technology centres in order to identify talent at the grassroots.

Folayan said InnovateNaija attracted more than 1,000 applications, after which public voting produced 36 state winners and the final 15 national contestants.

She said NASENI would continue working with successful innovators through incubation, business development, technical assistance and investor matching to strengthen their chances of commercialising their ideas.
Technology

Source: TheCable