The federal government on Monday unveiled a N50 million Student Venture Capital Grant (S-VCG) to promote innovation, research excellence, and entrepreneurship across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

Speaking at the official launch in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the programme represented a strategic national investment in young innovators and aligned directly with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for Education.

Mr Alausa described the S-VCG as far more than a grant scheme, noting that it was designed to identify high-potential ideas from campuses and nurture a culture of creativity and enterprise among students.

He said beneficiaries would receive up to N50 million in equity-free seed funding, alongside intensive incubation, expert mentorship, and access to networks and critical startup-building tools.

The minister added that the initiative was jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and TETFund in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, Afara Initiative, Afrilabs, the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre, and Google.

According to the minister, the programme is open to full-time students in the federal, state, and private tertiary institutions from year three and above, with younger students allowed as team members.

“The S-VCG is structured to identify exceptional talent, give them a fair and credible opportunity to succeed, and inspire thousands of others to believe in their capacity to innovate.

“We know that many successful founders did not thrive on their first attempt. But their journey began with a spark.

“This programme exists to light that spark, build a new culture of confidence, and showcase to the world the depth of Nigerian ingenuity.

”Beneficiaries of the S-VCG will receive a comprehensive support package tailored to increase their chances of building viable and scalable ventures,” he said.

Mr Alausa added that eligible ventures must have a CAC-registered business name and be rooted in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical sciences (STEMM) fields.

He said every application would undergo thorough evaluation, with shortlisted teams pitching before a 12-member expert panel drawn from academia, industry, venture capital, and government.

The minister added that participants would receive feedback and may be paired with complementary teams to encourage collaboration and shared innovation.

He stressed that the S-VCG was expected to accelerate research commercialisation, support intellectual property development, and position students to produce high-impact solutions with global relevance.

Adebayo Onigbanjo, the national programme coordinator of the Special Programme Unit of S-VCG, said the programme was designed to ignite student-driven innovation.

Mr Onigbanjo said it was also designed to close the investment gaps that have made venture capitalists hesitant to invest in early-stage university ideas.

He said the portal had received 17,914 applications from 402 schools, comprising 346 public and 56 private institutions, noting that over 1,000 applications had actually been submitted.

Also, the former Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji, whose board awards a $100,000 prize annually for scientific innovation, commended the initiative, noting its alignment with efforts to deepen scientific research and innovation in the country.

The application portal was opened on November 17 and will close on January 23, 2026, with the evaluation process beginning immediately afterwards.

(NAN)