FirstBank has announced its partnership with the Ekiti State Government in launching the Innovation Enterprise Support Fund, an initiative designed to empower startups, scale tech-enabled businesses and accelerate innovation-driven economic growth across the state.

The programme provides funding, mentorship and market access to high-potential enterprises, with a focus on strengthening Ekiti’s innovation ecosystem, creating jobs, and supporting youth, women and underserved communities.

Notably, at least 40 per cent of the fund has been reserved for female-led enterprises.

The initiative is structured as a three-phase programme covering ideation, pre-acceleration, and acceleration for about 60 startups.

Each enterprise will receive financial support ranging from N150,000 to N1,200,000, enabling job creation, revenue generation and market-ready product launches.

Speaking on the partnership, the Managing Director, FirstBank Group, Olusegun Alebiosu, said: “Entrepreneurship and Innovation are two of our core values at FirstBank. We believe MSMEs are enablers of economic growth and for 132 years, we have stood beside Nigerian businesses through every phase of growth, transition and transformation. We have remained committed to building stronger businesses through improved access to finance and capacity building; we created the SME Connect Platform to serve as a digital hub where Nigerian entrepreneurs find the resources to move from vision to value.

We are excited about this partnership, and we see more than startups. We see future industry leaders, employers of labour and perhaps our next big partners.”