FG opens applications for N2.5 billion grant for 50 student innovators

Samuel Daniel


The Federal Government has opened applications for the second cohort of its Student Venture Capital Grant, offering up to N50 million each to 50 outstanding student-led ventures across Nigeria.

The National Coordinator, Special Programme Operations and Implementation Unit (SPOI) at the Federal Ministry of Education, Adebayo Onigbanjo, announced this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

The initiative, also known as the Next Moonshot Initiative, will provide equity-free funding to student entrepreneurs with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-based business ideas. Applications will close on September 30, 2026.

What the FG is saying

Onigbanjo said the government was seeking quality applications from student innovators across the country.

  • For Cohort 2, we are looking for quality applications from student innovators across Nigeria, from which 50 outstanding ventures will ultimately be selected.
  • “Successful applicants will be eligible to receive up to N50 million equity-free grant from the Federal Republic of Nigeria to develop and scale their businesses.”

Onigbanjo said the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and forms a central component of the Ministry of Education’s Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), particularly its STEM pillar.

He said the government was committed to creating opportunities for students to transform innovative ideas into viable businesses.

  • Nigeria does not lack innovative young people. What many lack is the opportunity and capital to take these ideas further.
  • “Our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education must increasingly become places where ideas are developed, solutions created and businesses born,” he said.

How the grant will work

Applications will undergo an initial Artificial…



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