Four Nigerian startups with innovative ideas around green and renewable energy have won a total of N20 million in seed funding from the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) at the bank's 2024 Techpreneur Summit.
The summit, in its third year, was held in Lagos with the theme "Catalyzing Tech Innovation: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Regenerative Growth." The event aimed to promote investor-ready technology innovations within the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem.
During the event, DBN Managing Director/CEO Dr. Tony Okpanachi announced the seed funding, highlighting the bank's commitment to supporting sustainable ventures.
"This year, the 2024 DBN Techpreneur Summit seeks to promote and showcase investor-ready technology innovations within Nigeria's entrepreneurial ecosystem, while providing access to a pipeline of investors and subsequently funding to qualified techpreneurs," Okpanachi said.
To achieve this, DBN partnered with Addium Capital to organize a dedicated DealRoom session within the summit, which served as a platform for techpreneurs to meet with potential investors directly.
"By integrating DealRoom into the summit, we aim to bridge the gap between capital seekers and investors, catalyzing funding opportunities and fostering regenerative growth within the Nigerian tech ecosystem," Okpanachi explained.
As part of the summit's activities, a pitch session was held to showcase innovative ideas around green/renewable energy and other sustainable innovations, with a total prize sum of N20 million awarded to four successful winners as seed funding.
Okpanachi also highlighted DBN's success in promoting gender parity in the tech space, with 72% of DBN beneficiaries being women and 24% being youth.
"As a wholesale Bank, we lend through commercial banks, microfinance banks and other financial institutions that meet our criteria," Okpanachi said. "In addition to lending, DBN provides technical assistance to financial institutions participating in its lending program to encourage them to lend to the MSMEs."
