NGOs - SDGs
JA Nigeria Hosts Annual Flagship Student Competition In Lagos – NCOY 2018 Highlights
The National Company of the Year (NCOY) competition is Junior Achievement Nigeria’s flagship event and the culminating point for the implementation of the JA Company Program and accompanying regional competitions across Nigeria. It occurs in early October and brings together outstanding student business teams across Nigeria to compete for the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the Africa Company of the Year competition.
The goal of the NCOY is to create a signature showcase for Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) and the students who benefit from the impact of the JA Company Program®, which is a school-based entrepreneurship education curriculum for senior secondary school students. This annual celebration of success allows young people to demonstrate their business acumen and spirit of entrepreneurship in a competitive environment, which will engage business, education and policy leaders as well as the media.
This year, the competition held in Terra Kulture, Lagos on Thursday, the 4th of October, 2018 with 9 student companies participating in the competition. The student companies who competed are listed below:
- The Elite Achievers, a student company from Government Secondary School, Tudun Wada, who produced bio gas made from cow dung and a fruits dryer powered by solar energy.
- The Brain Max, a student company from Government Girls Secondary School, Abaji, Abuja. They created an online market where they sold farm produce from local farmers directly to customers. They also developed an app which is currently live on the Google Play Store –The Real Farmers Market (RFM)
- Brave Girls Company,a student company from Rosary College, Nise, who designed a local water ring boiler that consumes less power to boil water.
- Stecomms, a student company from Stella Maris College, Port-Harcourt, who developed a community-based radio transmitter.
- Inventive Explorers, a student company from Caro Favored Schools, Ajegunle, who produced a rechargeable handheld LED traffic light for road wardens
- Voltage JAC, a student company from Day Waterman College, who produced a flash drive + lighting phone charger.
- EBSUTECH POWER LTD, a student company from Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Staff School Abakiliki, who produced an equipment that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy (manual phone charger).
- The Elite Enterprise, a student company from Osogbo Government High School who produced bio gas made from cow dung.
- Sharon Glory Ventures, the student company of Sharon Rose College, Saki who designed a water level indicator.
The student companies were judged by Olutosin Oni, Principal at EchoVC Partners; Ijeoma Agboti-Obatoyinbo, MD/CEO of FBNQuest Funds; Akintunde Oyebode, CEO, Lagos State Employment Trust Funds; Fatima Aliko- Dangote, Executive Director, Commercial, NASCON Allied Industries; Paul Okeugo, CO-Founder & COO, Chocolate City Group; and Moyosore Olisa, Head, Alumni Engagement, Tony Elumelu Foundation. In addition to the highly esteemed judges, also in attendance were Patrick Iyamabo, the Chief Financial Officer of FirstBank Nigeria who gave the keynote address, as well as Nneotaobase Egbe of Channels TV who compered the event.
(L-R : Simi Nwogugu, ED Junior Achievement Nigeria, Paul Okeugo, Olutosin Oni, Fatima Aliko-Dangote, Moyosore Olisa, Akintunde Oyebode, & Ijeoma Agboti-Obatoyinbo)
Each student company presented their products and services to the judges and audience following a time for the product demos. Each student company had a booth where they displayed their products and judges had the opportunity to go round and see up-close, how each product/service worked. At the end of the day, three student companies copped all prizes.
Coming in third place, was Sharon Glory Ventures, a student company from Sharon Rose College Saki, Oyo who produced a water level indicator to enable home owners determine the level of water in their tanks. They also received the award for the Most Innovative Product.
(Sharon Glory College receiving award for the third place & Most Innovative Product)
(Student Company executives at the Booth for Product Inspection)
In Second place were the girls of Brain Max Student Company from Government Girls Secondary School, Abaji, Abuja who designed a website and software application for connecting local produce farmers directly to their customers; they also won the award for the best Corporate Social Responsibility project. For their CSR project, they visited Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps,assigned members of the camp into various economic cooperative groups based on skill sets and then provided entrepreneurship/financial literacy training to each group. They also placed approved cooperatives with viable plans on the “Displaced Finance Platform” for crowd funding and they secured start-up funds for them, provided the much needed mentoring to their businesses in the areas of access to market, book keeping and marketing. Through this, they were able to raise the household monthly income of over 260 IDPs in Durumi IDP Camp from zero to N30, 000. They also used 10% of their profit to provide food stuff and sanitary materials for the IDPs.
(Government Girls Secondary School students receiving award for Second position & Best CSR Project)
(The Student Company executives at their booth for service inspection)
And #NCOY2018grand winners, were the Inventive Explorers, a student company from Caro Favored College, Ajegunle, who produced rechargeable hand-held LED Traffic Lights to ease congestion in their locality and also eliminate the use of hands or red flags by traffic wardens. They will go on to represent Nigeria in the JA Africa Company of the Year competition taking place in Ghana this December.
(Caro Favored College receiving the award for First place in the NCOY 2018 competition)
(The student company executives at their booth for product inspection)
We thank all our guests for making time out to be a part of the event; our esteemed judges, for judging each student company objectively; our media partners (Bellanaija, PulseNG, Businessday and ChannelsTV), and #NCOY2018 in-kind sponsors (Wilson’s Juice Co) for contributing to the success of #NCOY2018.
We also recognize and thank Citi Foundation for sponsoring the JA Company Program in Lagos and Abuja thereby giving both the first and second place winners an opportunity to compete (and win). To ACT Foundation, for sponsoring the JA Company Program and regional competitions in Osun and Oyo States, we say a big THANK YOU!We’re sure the students of Sharon Rose College, Saki did you proud by coming in third place.
About Junior Achievement Nigeria
Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) is part of Junior Achievement Worldwide (JAWW), the world’s largest and fastest growing non-profit economic education organization with a 120-country network. Since inception in 1999, JAN has reached over 850,000 students in over 20,000 classrooms in over 29 locations across the country through over 2000 volunteers. As part of a global network, JAN is able to leverage resources and expertise to deliver localized cutting edge experiential programs built on JAWW’s three pillars of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, to in- and out-of-school youth ages 5-27 free of charge. You can follow us on our social media pages; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn. For more information about us, please visit our website www.ja-nigeria.org
More Photos of the event can be seen below:
(Stecomms Student Company with the local radio transmitter)
(The Elite Achievers Student Company with their product, A bio gas made from Cow Dung)
(The Brave Girls Student Company with their local Water Ring Boiler)
(Voltage JAC Student Company with their product, a 3 in 1 Portable Flash Drive)
(EBSUTECH Student Company pose with manual charger as judge inspects product)
(Some of our guests at the event)
(FirstBank CFO, Mr. Patrick Iyamabo giving a Keynote Speech during the event)
(Mr. Nneotaobase Egbe of Channels TV addressing guests during event)
(JAN ED, Simi Nwogugu, addressing guests before the presentation of awards to outstanding student companies)
Credit: Chinonso Ndimantang (Junior Achievement Nigeria)
NGOs - SDGs
Mercy Ships and Mission Aviation Fellowship renew partnership to bring life-changing surgery to African patients
Mercy Ships and Mission Aviation Fellowship Team (Image: Supplied).
Humanitarian aid organizations Mercy Ships and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) have renewed their partnership to help bring life-changing surgical care to isolated communities across Africa.
Mercy Ships operates state-of-the-art hospital ships, providing free surgeries and healthcare services to sub-Saharan nations with limited access to safe surgical care. MAF’s purpose is to bring help, hope and healing through aviation to people living in isolation and poverty.
The renewed memorandum of agreement between these two faith-based charities enables Mercy Ships to extend their reach further inland to a broader spectrum of the population across Africa, bolstered by MAF’s logistical support. This partnership, launched in Madagascar, will enable teams to access hard-to-reach areas and transport patients in need of critical surgical interventions. This collaboration provides opportunities for those in the most remote and inaccessible regions of the country. Further joint initiatives are being explored in other African nations.
“Traveling by road in Madagascar can be incredibly challenging due to the rough terrain and poor infrastructure,” Michael Jurgensen, MAF Madagascar Country Director, said. “In many cases, reaching remote villages can take days by car, draining valuable time and energy. However, with MAF Madagascar’s support, the [Mercy Ships] patient selection team can cover vast distances swiftly and safely, enabling them to visit multiple locations within a short period. Flying not only saves time for the selection team, but also ensures the team can travel to evaluate and select patients from the most isolated and underserved areas for surgery on-ship at a later date.
A 2016 study of Madagascar revealed that only 20% of the population can access surgical services within a two-hour timeframe, and up to 95% would face financial ruin if they required surgery (source: BMJ Global Health). With a scarcity of surgeons — approximately 1 for every 100,000 people — the prospect of receiving necessary surgical treatment seems unattainable for many (source: WHO).
Bernard van den Bosch, who has worked for both MAF and Mercy Ships, and current Director of the Africa Services Center at Mercy Ships, expressed his enthusiasm: “We are confidently re-engaging with MAF because together we are stronger. The country of Madagascar has many hard-to-reach areas, and MAF is the key to accessing them. Non-profit organizations can ‘compete,’ but ultimately, we all serve the same goal. I see many opportunities for future collaboration and intensive joint efforts.”
Bastiaan de Waal, Africa Regional Director of MAF, added: “By transporting Mercy Ships teams with our aircraft to the interior of Madagascar, we provide help, hope and healing to residents with the surgical care they desperately need. The need is high in these areas, and these people in isolated communities are equally entitled to care. We are pleased to partner alongside Mercy Ships to support this often-forgotten group. Being each other’s hand and foot is what we are called to do and we have a shared synergy of vision and values.”
This renewed collaboration between MAF and Mercy Ships exemplifies how strategic partnerships can enhance humanitarian efforts, ensuring that more people receive the critical medical care they need. The two organizations previously partnered from 2014 to 2016 in Madagascar and have worked together in Liberia.
Mercy Ships’ hospital ship, the Africa Mercy®, has been docked in Toamasina since February and is delivering surgery and training. The ship is actively collaborating with Madagascar’s Ministry of Health to identify the most pressing needs and strengthen the country’s surgical systems through its education, training, and advocacy program.
NGOs - SDGs
Climate Launchpad: Beyond competition, a catalyst for change
Climate Launchpad Competition 2023 Image.
Despite the success of The Climate Launchpad Competition 2023, Climate Launchpad through the support of Climate-KIC and Irish Aid provided additional support to the participants of the competition through the Post-Climate Launchpad Accelerator. Given that the majority of the participants are early-stage businesses, capacity building is a necessity. The post-competition support is divided into 2, The masterclasses that are being handled by the Climate Launchpad Global team which has participants from over 7 African countries, and The national capacity-building session handled by the Climate LaunchPad Nigeria Team.
The Masterclass session featured a business-changing session on important modules like funding options & Instruments, Gender and Climate, Communications and Storytelling, Climate Impact etc. The national capacity-building session focuses on marketing strategies, practical and optimal use of social media and analytics. As an early-stage business in Nigeria, one of the major challenges you face is reaching and communicating with your potential customers at the market entry stage. The modules were selected after feedback from alumni of the competition.
The modules have been proven to be useful as we have started seeing the tractions of the businesses on social media. Overall, the post-competition support program has been no short of helpful to the businesses. We had 5 active participants from Nigeria who have expressed their gratitude for the post-competition support. Each of them will be given a grant of EUR200 to facilitate their marketing and social media usage.
The National Lead for Climate Launchpad Nigeria, Oluwatosin Ajide affirms the importance of the accelerator program “If we have more competition dedicating their support beyond just the pitching like Climate Launchpad does, We would have more green businesses with solid foundations”. He also thanked the Climate Launchpad central team and the sponsors the Climate-KIC and Irish Aid for their constant support in building the green ecosystem in Nigeria.
NGOs - SDGs
GEANCO Foundation and Archewell Foundation Announce Mental Health Initiative for Nigerian Youth
The GEANCO Foundation and The Archewell Foundation has announced an expansion of their partnership, currently serving girls and young women across Nigeria with menstrual health products and education, to include mental health resources and training for young men and women.
This expanded partnership kicked off with its inaugural Mental Health Summit, taking place over two days and serving nearly 200 students in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and co-Founders of The Archewell Foundation opened the Summit by delivering inspiring remarks to the young people in attendance.
GEANCO intends to hold summits throughout the country over the next year, providing teenage girls and boys with the information, skills, and coping mechanisms necessary to flourish mentally.
“Youth in Nigeria are critically underserved in terms of mental and menstrual health”, said GEANCO’s CEO Afam Onyema. “I am deeply grateful to The Duke and Duchess for partnering with us to address this crisis and provide this vulnerable but inspiring young generation with what they need to thrive in body, mind and spirit.”
A strong stigma also surrounds mental health in Nigeria, which is critically neglected in the country. The World Health Organization estimates that only 3% of the federal government’s health budget goes to mental health, and while up to one-third of Nigerians have mental health challenges, fewer than 500 mental health professionals serve the country’s 200 million plus citizens. Nigeria’s teens and youth in particular have little to no access to mental health support.
The expanded partnership will also continue the ongoing work to support young girls with menstrual health products and education. An estimated 37 million women and girls in Nigeria experience “period poverty”, meaning they are unable to access or afford menstrual products like pads, tampons, and underwear. Because of the material difficulties caused by period poverty and the deep stigma surrounding menstruation, millions of girls in the country miss school every month, crippling their educational advancement and deepening Nigeria’s already vast levels of gender inequality.
GEANCO Foundation provides critical health care and education services in Nigeria. Its David Oyelowo Leadership Scholarship provides full tuition, medical care, and social and emotional support to young female victims of terrorism and gender inequality in Nigeria.