NCC awards N20m grant to 4 young techpreneurs

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has awarded a N20 million grant to four young Nigerian technology start-ups owners, with each getting N5m.

While the first two startups, Clearflow System Hub and Aelaus Engineering Teams/Hyech Electronics Solutions, emerged winners on IoT category on kidnapping and banditry, Kalibotics and CyberNorth Tech, emerged winners on assistive robotics for effective e-waste management solutions.

The grant was for the novel digital solutions of four start-ups, aimed at finding innovative digital solutions in addressing the challenges of insecurity and to stem the growth in national e-waste rates, while advancing the frontier of Internet of Things (IoT) in Nigeria. 

Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony in Abuja, the Director, New Media and Information Security of NCC, Dr. Haru Alhassan, who spoke on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the Commission, as a frontline driver of innovation in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, organised the second edition of the NCC Hackathon with a view to drive the creation of problem-solving tech innovations.

Danbatta said that the initiative was in line with the objectives of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) and the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), which focuses on promotion of Nigerian content in contracts, science, engineering and technology.