UNDP, Mastercard Foundation, and NerdzFactory Champion Innovation at Lagos Showcase, Provide Grants to Scale Young African Innovates Solutions

A major push to harness youth-led solutions for economic transformation took center stage in Lagos, as the NerdzFactory Company, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Mastercard Foundation, organized the Innovation State Showcase for young innovators.

The event, a key component of the ongoing Young Africa Innovates (YAI) Programme, celebrated the creativity and resilience of young Nigerians who are building solutions to tackle local development challenges. The initiative saw the provision of grants and comprehensive capacity-building training aimed at helping the innovators scale their products and services.

The Founding Partner of NerdzFactory Company, Ade Olowojoba, described the YAI Programme as a flagship initiative designed to identify, support, and multiply youth-driven solutions across Nigeria. “Mastercard Foundation is sponsoring the programme, UNDP will oversee its implementation, and NerdzFactory will provide training for the innovators,” he explained. The solutions showcased are aligned with Lagos State’s development priorities, demonstrating the program’s focus on enabling scalable, high-impact innovation led by young people.

Ms. Elsie Attafuah, UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, praised the young entrepreneurs, noting that the showcase proves that breakthrough solutions can emerge from unconventional spaces such as local markets and small workshops. “Young people are creating tools that address food losses, designing data-driven systems, and producing world-class ideas with minimal resources,” she stated, urging governments to create policies that actively nurture this grassroots innovation.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, acknowledged Lagos’s role as the hub of Nigeria’s innovation economy. She noted that the state has deliberately invested in digital infrastructure and startup clusters. The Commissioner also revealed the immense response to the initiative, confirming that Lagos received more than 9,000 applications for the YAI programme, from which 205 innovators were ultimately selected for the intensive incubation phase.

Policy experts and industry leaders at the event collectively called for increased government support, emphasizing that young innovators operate in critical gaps—such as health, climate, gender, and economic inclusion—but require better access to capital, mentorship, networks, and an enabling environment to achieve widespread impact.