Photo caption: The winners with their cheques
By Emeka Ugwuanyi
TotalEnergies Nigeria has unveiled the three Nigerian winners of its fourth edition of the 2024 TotalEnergies’ Startupper of the Year Challenge.
In the 2024 Startupper of the Year Challenge, 32 countries participated with 40,000 registrations submitted on the platform and 14,000 complete applications.
According to the French oil giant, after the selection by a local and international jury, 100 winners emerged in this year’s Startupper of the Year Challenge. The local winners of this special edition organized on the occasion of the Company’s centenary were honored during an official prize-giving ceremony that took place on October 22, 2024, in Lagos.
The three Nigerian winners of the Startupper of the Year Challenge are:
- Temitope YAKUBU in the Innov’Up category for best entrepreneur with INTERKOOL BY FARMCI. FarmCI’s InterKool Storage Pod is a portable, solar-powered solution for preserving and transporting farm produce, extending shelf life and reducing disease risk for small-scale farmers and retailers.
- Jacob ABIODUN in the Cycle’Up category for best circular economy project with COCONOTO. COCONOTO is used in transforming the coconut value chain for a greener, more sustainable future.
- Emmanuel ABAH in the Power’Up category for best sustainable and affordable project with WASTE2LIGHT LTD: Waste2light Wind and Hydro Turbine is a pioneering initiative to produce electricity from wind and hydro sources, by converting plastic waste into 3D printed wind and hydro components. Waste2light is championing to power Nigeria with clean electricity.
In order to help them develop their projects, these young entrepreneurs will receive N8 million grant each. They will also be given personalized support to develop their projects, along with local visibility to boost awareness of their plans.
In Nigeria alone, 5906 applications were submitted, of which 1540 successfully completed the application process. From the 1540, the best 100 projects were selected; 14 finalists pitched their projects to a local panel of experts, out of which the three top winners emerged.
