Benjamin Babine, Abuja
USAIFA International limited, an agricultural start-up company has emerged the winner of the Nigerian National Start-up Pitch Competition held at the Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) in Abuja on Wednesday.
By this feat, the company will represent Nigeria at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) and National Champions Pitch Competition in Dubai from March 24-25.
The company will slug it out with other start-ups and the eventual winner will go home with $50,000, while gaining invaluable international exposure needed for rapid growth.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of AEA, Mr Arabi Muhammad Tukur said that the current Federal Capital Territory administration was totally committed to providing an enabling environment for Nigerian entrepreneurs to thrive.
He noted that the competition, which was organised by the AEA in collaboration with Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and AIM had 11 start-up finalists after a rigorous process involving over 600 start-up applicants.
Tukur said: “Our collaboration with critical partners such as SMEDAN and AIM is borne out of the FCT administration’s vision of providing an enabling environment particularly for youths to become leaders in the entrepreneurial world and provide solutions to the various challenges we face as a nation.
He added that the competition was organised to motivate Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises to build themselves to world-class standards.
“The competition, which focuses on five categories namely growth, social impact, best use of innovation, climate and environmental impact as well as privacy and data protection, will spur SMEs in Nigeria to align their activities to meet with global best practices,” he said.
The AEA boss thanked the FCT Minister, Mr Muhammad Musa Bello, for his support and stressed that his administration had shown great interest in youth development. He said that the minister’s effort was what made the event possible and his dedication and commitment to improving the FCT was admirable.
In his remarks at the event, the Country Director of AIM, Dr. Umar Dikko Radda said this was the first time that a winner from Nigeria would be represented at the AIM National Champions Pitch Competition in Dubai.
“There are going to be 80 countries represented and it will hold on the 24th and 25th of March. Whichever winner we get today will be sponsored by AIM to the event and will have the opportunity to meet with people from other countries and stand the chance to win $50,000.”