TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria PLC; and Olubunmi Popoola-Mordi, Executive General Manager, TotalEnergies Country Services at a news briefing to announce the 2021 Startupper Challenge on Tuesday in Lagos.
TotalEnergies Nigeria on Tuesday announced the commencement of the third edition of its Startupper Challenge of the Year Challenge, designed to support young entrepreneurs in Nigeria and the African continent.
Addressing a virtual news conference in Lagos on Tuesday, Executive General Manager, TotalEnergies Country Services, Mrs Olubunmi Popoola-Mordi, explained that the Startupper Challenge was designed to support and reward young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 who had created a company in the past two years.
She explained that that the projects would be assessed based on their innovative character, feasibility, and development potential as well as how they relate to the Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the United Nations.
According to her, the 2021 Startupper Challenge will take place in 33 African countries, adding that it is a reaffirmation of TotalEnergies commitment to the socio-economic development of the continent.
Popoola-Mordi said: “For Nigeria and in other countries, there will be winners in three categories.
“Best Business Creation Project, Best Startup under three years old and Best Female Entrepreneur.
“Each winner will be given N5 million financial support, personalised coaching and mentoring , networking opportunities as well media visibility.”
She said the winners for Nigeria would thereafter compete with their peers from other African countries for the three grand prizes of Grand Winner, Best Business Creation, Grand Winner, Best Startup Under three years old and Grand Winner, Best Female Entrepreneur.
Popoola-Mordi said entry applications for the competition would begin on Nov. 4, while the winners would be announced in April 2022.
Also speaking, Mr Opeyemi Owosho, winner of the first edition of the Startupper Challenge, said the opportunity had helped him grow his
company to a bigger brand.
He said apart from the financial reward, the training and mentoring by TotalEnergies had helped the company develop a more sustainable business model in the last few years. nan.
