Seven young entrepreneurs have emerged winners in the second edition of the Teeasas Startup Challenge, taking home more than N1 million in prize money as the initiative wrapped up its Startup Spark 2.0 competition.
The programme, organised by Teesas Summer School, seeks to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship among young people by providing them with opportunities to develop business ideas, sharpen their entrepreneurial skills and turn promising concepts into viable ventures.
The Future CEO Challenge competition came to limelight through a collaboration between the Indomie and Teesas Education, offering five free slots to seven to 18-year-olds to attend the Teesas Summer School.
To participate, the students were asked to submit a 60-second video that answered the question, ‘If you could start a business that solves a problem in your community, what would it be?’
Similarly, Tech4Dev, a non-profit organisation that equips young, underserved populations with technology, digital and creative knowledge and skills, selected 10 children from Makoko whom they sponsored to attend the summer school.
Along with other children, they were exposed to leadership, entrepreneurship, technology, and creative skills development. The Teesas Summer School ran two cohorts from July 20 to August 29.
At the end of each cohort, every child made a business pitch in the Startup Spark 2.0 competition. The pitches were opened to public voting, and seven children were selected to receive grants.
The winners include, Obaniefo Okonkwo and Daniel Chukwuemeka, who emerged as best CEOs in cohorts 1 and 2, respectively. They were each rewarded with the diamond grant of N250,000 respectively.
Kobi Mba and Zatu-Nurayn Mojeed each received the N150,000 gold grant for second place in both cohorts. Three children received the bronze grant of N100,000 each for third place, which include, Oluwatoni Oyename in cohort 1, and Akinkunmi Awomokun and Nehemiah Layade, who tied in cohort 2.
However, Zatu-Nurayn Mojeed, a 10-year-old student, stands out not just as cohort 2 second-place winner, but as someone who could be described as being born under a lucky star.
She submitted the first entry for the Future CEO Challenge, earned one of the five free slots, and received a grant. Then, she pitched a plan to develop robots that assist young and elderly people in road crossing.
An internal judging team shortlisted her pitch for its societal relevance before subjecting it to public voting.
During the prize presentation, Zatu-Nurayn said, ‘I am deeply grateful to receive the reward for second position in cohort 2 of the Teesas Startup Spark 2.0.’
Hammed Mojeed, her father, applauded Teesas Education for creating the platform for his daughter and allowing her to learn, grow, build confidence, and showcase her potential.
‘We truly appreciate the time, effort, and support invested in my daughter throughout this programme. Watching her learn and participate has been a beautiful experience, and this recognition makes it even more special,’ he said.
Gladys Ede-Osime, growth manager at Teesas Learning Centre, responding to the Startup Spark 2.0 success, said the children worked hard on their pitches and public engagement was high, with cumulative votes for both cohorts exceeding 50,000.
‘The grants are a token to encourage the recipients to remain curious about entrepreneurship and keep exploring ideas that change society for good,’ she said.
Teesas Education is committed to delivering learning solutions through technology-driven innovation that creates measurable value in the education sector using innovative teaching models that increase learner engagement.