JICA and NITDA, in Partnership with Ventures Park, Launch the 2nd Cohort of the NINJA Accelerator Program in Nigeria

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in partnership with Ventures Park have announced the launch of NINJA Accelerator Program in Nigeria – 2nd cohort.

The program is open to startups not only in Nigeria but in other countries and regions that want to expand into the Nigerian market.  Regions include other African countries, Asia, Europe, and the United States. Applications are targeted in the following three areas: AgriTech, HealthTech, and CleanTech.

Nigeria’s startup ecosystem is experiencing unprecedented growth and development. The brilliance of startups and founders within the ecosystem has created an opportunity for development partners to contribute their quota to enhancing innovation in the country. 

In 2021, JICA led the development of an ecosystem mapping report of Nigeria’s startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The ecosystem mapping report highlighted noticeable gaps in the following subsectors within the Agritech innovation space; logistics, cold chain monitoring and insurance. In the HealthTech sector, gaps were discovered in nutrition, mobile health/fitness app, and healthcare marketing.

Consequently, JICA and NITDA are launching their second cohort of the NINJA Accelerator program in Nigeria. The goal is to strengthen underperforming and necessary sub-sectors in sectors such as agritech, healthtech, and cleantech in Nigeria. 

The second cohort of the NINJA Accelerator Program in Nigeria is jointly run by the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), and National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR).

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Your company must be legally incorporated in your country.
2. Sector must be Agri tech, health tech or clean tech (including finance/logistics in those sectors etc.)
3. If you are a foreign company, your company must be legally incorporated with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Nigeria prior to the commencement of the training
4. Applicants’ startups should be innovative and technology-driven
5. Funding stage should be pre-Seed, Seed or pre-Series A.

Program Value/Benefits:

• Opportunity to pitch to Japanese investors and corporates at the largest African-focused startup event in Japan 
• Tailored Support for Business Growth
• Opportunity for foreign startups to expand into the Nigerian market 
• Support with legal incorporation of selected foreign startups in Nigeria

Deadline: May 13, 2022

The program will be accepting applications starting from April 18th, 2022. Qualified applicants must be startups that are already operating in the business with a considerable amount of market size and experience. Interested applicants can find more detail and apply at our website

Apply Here

About JICA 

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) coordinates official development assistance for the Japanese government in developing countries and aims to promote international cooperation by supporting the socio-economic development, recovery, or economic stability of emerging economies.

Next INnovation with JApan (NINJA) is a startup support initiative by JICA launched in January 2020 to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and the creation of new businesses in emerging countries.

For more information: https://www.jica.go.jp/english/index.html, 

About NITDA

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was set up to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria. Its role is to develop, regulate and advise on Information technology in the country through regulatory standards, guidelines and policies. 

The Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of NITDA created to streamline the coordination and support of activities on policy implementation, enforcement of regulatory guidelines and interventions targeted at the development and growth of the Nigerian technology ecosystem for greater impact on job creation and economic growth.

For more information, visit: https://nitda.gov.ng/ 

About Ventures Park

Ventures Park is a full innovative entrepreneurship hub, equipped with high-speed internet, state-of-the-art furniture, artsy finishes with an uninterrupted power supply provides the required coworking infrastructure (physical and virtual) for businesses to thrive. Beyond infrastructure, the Park provides support through capacity-building programs/events and venture support services, including access to mentorship, funding, and markets. To know more about Ventures Park, visit this link www.theventurespark.com