SMEs get N3.5 million prizes at innovation fair

Five small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at the Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) Hackathon Innovation Fair 2.0 have won N3.5 million each with four months of incubation and mentorship programme.
  
The five innovators pitched innovative ideas that address challenges in Nigeria’s WASH sector. The innovators that emerged winners include, Schrodinger Tech, Retreasure, Junkyard, Green Cycle and Sparkles.
   
The programme, which was organised through the partnership of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S LAGOS) and the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC), was sponsored by IHS, one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communication infrastructure in the world.
   
Speaking at the event, Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said that WASH provides an excellent platform for innovators and entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas.

He noted that innovations designed to address challenges of open defecation and enhance access to safe Water, Sanitation and hygiene were salutary.
  
“I hope that these ideas and initiatives are brought to fruition so that the startups can contribute to plugging identified gaps for more effective intervention in the sector.
   
“The theme for this year’s fair, innovation for sustainable growth in the sector is timely, I mean against the backdrop of certain concerns about the shortfalls in the issue of access to safe water.
  
“It is also an important condition and a critical role in the development of the nation’s economy,’’ he said.
  
According to him, it is a critical component of our nation’s economy; it is essential to exploit globally available opportunities for the resolution of the challenges of the sector.

He said that the water sanitation sector offers immense opportunities for investment, job creation, and poverty reduction.
   
Adamu said that despite the substantial investments in the sector, much more still needs to be done to improve access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for our citizens.
  
According to him, “the sector is also beset with a myriad of challenges mainly medical infrastructure, capacity, as well as poor service delivery at various levels.”
   
He said that in 2022, stakeholders had to find investment opportunities, estimated at $3.8 billion in the WASH sectors.
  
According to him, this represents a significant opportunity that drives innovations and investment and allows opportunities to integrate creative solutions that would contribute to the resolution of identified challenges.
   
Earlier, Chief Corporate Service Officer, IHS Nigeria, Dapo Otunla, said that the organisation is committed to the Federal Government’s plan to end open defecation by 2025.
   
He noted that the firm has donated over 3000 books on open defecation to communities across Nigeria as well as installed 13 mechanised solar boreholes across communities.
  
According to him, about 138 communities have been impacted and over 18000 lives touched all in the effort to achieve the objectives of the WASH initiative.
   
Chief WASH, UNICEF Nigeria, Dr. Jane Bevan, in her technical presentation highlighted the challenges of the WASH initiative in Nigeria.
   
She noted that poor investment in WASH both at the national and sub-national levels were some of the issues affecting the sector in Nigeria.