NSIA Awards Over $220,000 to Top Nigerian Innovators at NPI 3.0 Demo Day
By Patience Ikpeme
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has announced the winners of the third edition of its flagship innovation program, the NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI 3.0), offering over $220,000 in combined prize money.
The announcement came at the NPI 3.0 Demo Day, where the ten finalists—selected from a pool of over 5,000 applicants—pitched their ideas to a panel of seasoned judges from the business and technology sectors.
In addition to cash prizes, the finalists were awarded a fully sponsored five-week training program at Draper University in Silicon Valley, USA.
In a strategic collaboration this year, NSIA partnered with the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) and Cascador, introducing new reward categories to expand the prize pool. This included three $15,000 Cascador Impact Prizes and three $5,000 PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prizes for selected startups within the top ten.
D-Olivette Labs clinched the top prize with its AI-powered smart bio-digesters that convert agricultural and food waste into clean energy and organic fertilizer. The company received $100,000 from NSIA and a $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize, taking its total winnings to $115,000.
Promise Point, a woman-led cassava processing startup operating an automated facility on over 1,500 hectares of farmland and engaging over 2,000 smallholder farmers, took second place. It secured $70,000 from NSIA and a $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize, bringing the total to $85,000.
Third place went to GeroCare, a digital health platform focused on enhancing elderly care across Nigeria. GeroCare earned $50,000 from NSIA along with a $5,000 PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prize, totaling $55,000.
Other notable winners include Mediverse, a locally built lab automation solution; Sosocare, a low-cost health insurance platform; and FriendsnPal, a predictive AI-powered mental health support platform. Mediverse and Sosocare each received a $5,000 PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prize, while FriendsnPal received a $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize.
Speaking during the event, NSIA Managing Director and CEO, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the initiative is aimed at nurturing local solutions that address Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges. “The NSIA Prize for Innovation exemplifies our commitment to nurturing homegrown solutions with the potential for transformative impact,” he said.
He added that this year’s partnerships with PVAC and Cascador allowed the Authority to expand its reach, provide more robust support to startups, and push innovation and youth entrepreneurship further into the spotlight.
NSIA commended all ten finalists, reaffirming its commitment to supporting Nigerian startups and helping them scale globally. The Authority also described the competition as part of its broader mission to stimulate job creation, economic growth, and Nigeria’s transition to a knowledge-based economy.
The NPI competition is designed in multiple stages. It begins with a pre-selection phase involving online applications, followed by an accelerator program that includes both virtual and physical training bootcamps and a mini demo day. The top ten finalists then pitch at the main Demo Day before proceeding to the final stage—an all-expenses-paid entrepreneurship training at Draper University in Silicon Valley.
