Peter Uzoho
The Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has announced its resolve to support the five winning innovators in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology (NOGTECH) Hackathon with sustained institutional and financial support.
The support, according to the board, will be coming from it and other industry stakeholders to enable the innovators become successful businesses.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, announced this at the demo day held recently in Lagos, where the five startups showcased their homegrown innovative solutions tailored to solve local problems in the oil and gas industry and related sectors.
The startups which include AirSynQ, Fuel Intellisense, Gricd Mote, Homefort Energy and Kiakia Gas had earlier received $10,000 grant each from NCDMB and had just completed their three-month incubation programme, where they had resources and mentors that helped them identify their pilot clients and markets.
The NOGTECH Hackathon was launched in July 2020 under the sponsorship of NCDMB and 630 promising startups applied, with 15 finalists selected at the end of the screening phase.
The 15 groups took part in the three-day Hackathon stage held in September 2020, where the top five teams were selected.
Wabote confirmed that the board will continue to support the five startups using the Nigerian Content Research and Development Council, that draws membership from relevant organisations and the $50million Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund.
He reiterated that NCDMB deploys an end-to-end strategy in its projects and will not relent until the innovations were fully deployed and begin to solve societal problems.
He noted that some of the solutions extend beyond the oil and gas sector and that they will impact the health sector, community surveillance and the military in their fight against insurgence.
“These are innovative solutions to everyday problems that we face in the country; it is beyond the oil and gas industry,” he said.
On the connection between NOGTECH Hackathon and NCDMB’s mandate, Wabote explained that the initiative promotes research and development and capacity building, and that they constitute key pillars of NCDMB’s mandate and its 10-year strategic roadmap.
He added that the 10 teams that made it to the NOGTECH screening stage would also be accommodated at the board’s incubation centre located at its headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
