NCIC, GCA, KCIC Rally Support for Climate Resilient Enterprises in Nigeria with $15000 Grant

Oluchi Chibuzor

Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC), Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA), and the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC) have supported local enterprises with $15000 for pitching at the demo day event in Nigeria leading up to COP30 in Brazil.

That was in an effort to rally support for young innovators to showcase cutting-edge adaptation solutions driving Africa’s resilience across sectors, such as food security and infrastructure.

Speaking at a two-day demo event, where 15 local enterprises in Nigeria pitched for the In-Country YouthADAPTChallenge, CEO, Global Centre on Adaptation, Professor Patrick Verkooijen, said Africa’s youth were not just victims of the climate crisis but they were also architects of the solutions.

According to him, “Through our YouthADAPT challenge we are turning their ideas into investable, impactful businesses. This is practical climate leadership: aligning innovation with national priorities and NDCs, creating decent jobs and strengthening food systems and infrastructure where it matters most.

“I call on banks, development finance institutions, impact investors, and corporate partners to join us – so that by COP30 and beyond, we can scale these solutions to scale.”

Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Climate Innovation Centre, Joseph Murabula, said everybody knew that Africa’s greatest resource was its innovative, youthful population.

Murabula stated, “We are moving beyond this rhetoric to action. Through the In-Country YouthADAPT 2025 Challenge, we are providing African youth with the essential tools, including funding, mentorship, and market access, to turn their climate adaptation solutions into viable businesses.

‘’This is how we build climate resilience from the ground up, strengthening food security and critical infrastructure.”

Following the Demo Day series, 15 participating enterprises from Nigeria got $1000 each, while final selections and investment commitments will be announced during COP30 in Brazil in November, where the top 10 youth-led enterprises will be showcased on the global stage.

Representing Lagos State Government, Special Advisor on Climate Change and Circular Economy to Lagos State Governor, Titi Oshodi, emphasised the need to drive climate literacy across the country by promoting home-grown solutions for Africa challenges.

Oshodi said, “It’s fundamentally an opportunity to scout for climate adaptable solutions. Platforms like the Youth Adapt gives us the opportunity to see from a long range the ideas and the skills that are behind what we want to drive for a sustainable environment, for a sustainable livelihood in Lagos and in Nigeria. So, in this pursuit, we need to drive climate literacy.

“The literacy or the education of it helps these young ones to be able to interpret and then apply their knowledge to bridging the gaps that can cause change to the various challenges that we’re facing today.”

She said, “Some of those challenges, as we have discussed, range from displacement, food insecurity, ill health, dysfunctions in movements, mobility, and the crisis in climate that affects our mental well-being, you know.

“And these are gaps that are dysfunctionally hitting on the productivity of the average household person or within the community.

And so, we need our young ones, innovators, founders, to begin to curate the home-grown solutions that are unique and appropriate for our client.”

Speaking on what scalable enterprises should be like, a member of the panel of judges and President, Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA), Alexander Isong, highlighted profitability as one of the key characteristics of a successful enterprise.

Isong stated, “So, for the idea to become very profitable, it has to be an idea that can be marketed, grown, escalated and used for investments and by investors.

‘’That idea can create employment, enough revenue for both the person investing, the person running the business, and for it to be able to even create enough money for taxation for the government.”

The team lead, KCIC, Prabhakar Vanam, said the programme also implemented in Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya was about supporting youth enterprises working with some fantastic innovations in the space of food security, as well as climate smart infrastructure.

Vanam stated, “We are trying to evaluate whether all the innovation that they are coming up with is able to solve the critical issue that Nigeria faces in terms of food security, as well as in terms of infrastructure.

“And we are trying to see if those particular gaps can be fulfilled by these youth innovations. So, we are trying to bring the nexus of infrastructure, food security and climate adaptation into one space.”

The Demo Day event was designed to bridge the financing gap for youth-led adaptation enterprises by linking them directly with domestic and regional private-sector investors.

Participating investors gained access to a curated pipeline of high-potential enterprises through pitch sessions and private deal rooms, supported by transaction advisory and due diligence facilitation from KCIC on behalf of GCA.