NASENI names 18 zonal winners as six innovators advance to N5m national finale

From AI-powered learning platforms to life-saving emergency alert systems, Nigeria’s youngest innovators close out FutureMakers Week as six zonal champions head to the NASENI Invention

THE NASENI Innovation Hub (NIH) has announced the winners of FutureMakers Week, after all 60 shortlisted innovators aged 5 to 16, drawn from Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, completed a week of live-streamed pitch sessions before a panel of judges and industry leaders.

The Pitch Sessions, streamed live and open to the public on YouTube, X, Instagram and Facebook, ran from August 24 to 27, with innovators presenting the prototypes they built during the preceding Virtual Hackathon, which ran from 17 to 20 August. Eighteen zonal winners have now been named, with the top innovator from each zone advancing to represent their region at the NASENI Invention Fest, where they will compete for a N5 million grand prize, a fully funded international study tour, and scholarships to two leading Nigerian universities.

In the North West, Ruqayya Safwa Faruq claimed the zonal top spot with EcoGlow Lab, ahead of Ahmad Yakub Isah’s FloodGate Alarm System in second place and Maryam Hamid Amir’s Idea Sparks in third.

In the South West, Joshua Agboola’s Pragma Learn took first place, with Stephanie Emmanuella Dominic’s LearnS AI finishing second and Joel Idahosa Arasomwan’s Relearn Marketplace placing third.

In the North Central zone, Mary Oluwabusayomi Umahonlen won with the Smart Hydroponic Kit, followed by Jatto Ahmad-Tijani’s Smart Solar Powered Hermetic Storage Silos in second place and Munachi Kalu’s Mobile Mini Greenhouse in third.

In the South South, Precious Akabude-Odozi’s Velora placed first, ahead of Ayomide Daniel Olorunfemi’s Skill Based Study Hub in second place and Havilah Uche-Aniche’s StudySesh in third.

In the North East, Emmanuel Paul’s Lafiya Alert took the top spot, with Zanna Gremma’s SOS Wristwatch finishing second and Yahaya Usman Sani’s Community SOS Mobile App placing third.

And in the South East, Ogbonna-Nwota Gold’s Callisto won first place, followed by Eze Bryan Chinny’s StudyVerse in second place and Angel Echeta Chidalu’s Community Learning and Earning Hubs in third.

“FutureMakers Week was the culminating moment of the programme cycle, where months of outreach and selection turned into built solutions and backed ventures,” said Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NASENI. “Sixty innovators, six zones, six challenges — what we witnessed during FutureMakers Week is proof that this programme is deliberately national in reach and local in problem definition.”

“This talent pipeline is not a one-off competition,” said Busola Beckley Perez-Folayan, Hub Manager, NASENI Innovation Hub. “From an AI-powered learning platform closing the education access gap in the South West, to a life-saving emergency alert device in the North East, to a platform securing reliable access to nutritious food in the North Central region — these young innovators built real solutions to real problems, entirely from the safety of their homes. Every one of our sixty FutureMakers leaves with SparkLab access, mentorship, training and a scholarship pathway, alongside the prizes announced today.”

The six zonal winners — Ruqayya Safwa Faruq, Joshua Agboola, Mary Oluwabusayomi Umahonlen, Precious Akabude-Odozi, Emmanuel Paul and Ogbonna-Nwota Gold — now advance to the NASENI Invention Fest, where they will pitch alongside innovators from across NASENI’s wider network for the national N5 million grand prize. The date for the Invention Fest will be announced in due course.

FutureMakers by NASENI is delivered in collaboration with academic and ecosystem partners including MIVA Open University and the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja. The NASENI Innovation Hub is a member of the AfriLabs network.

FutureMakers by NASENI is the flagship innovation programme of the NASENI Innovation Hub, identifying and supporting early-stage Nigerian innovators building technology solutions to challenges specific to their regions, with access to funding, mentorship, training and NASENI’s engineering and prototyping infrastructure.

The NASENI Innovation Hub is the innovation and startup-support arm of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, based in Abuja. NIH runs programmes including FutureMakers by NASENI and NASENI Xceler8, supporting founders from idea stage through to commercialisation.

The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) is the Federal Government agency mandated to build Nigeria’s science, engineering and technological infrastructure base and to drive the country’s transition from a consumer to a producer economy. NASENI is led by Executive Vice Chairman/CEO Khalil Suleiman Halilu.