By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), through its subsidiary, the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), is partnering Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), to launch iHatch, a startup incubation programme aimed at increasing the number of innovation-driven enterprises by Nigerian youths.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations of NITDA, Mrs Hadiza Umar.
She said the incubation program will provide an opportunity for start-ups that have innovative business ideas along with a prototype of their products or services.
According to the statement, iHatch focuses on youth, innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology.
NITDA added that the participating start-ups will receive free offline and online interactive training from experienced coaches and mentors from over the world and investment opportunities.
“iHatch seeks to establish a programme that will accelerate the process of taking ideas to impact, hence providing the much-needed jobs for our teeming youths, and also nurturing that entrepreneurial spirit in them, which will catalyse the Nigerian digital economy to the next level,” Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General, NITDA said.
iHatch is a 5-month free intensive incubation program designed to help Nigerian entrepreneurs perfect their business ideas through a series of coaching, lectures, and boot camps, to generate viable and scalable business models.
