Co-Creation Hub, Nigeria’s foremost tech start-up, has marked its fifth anniversary by announcing a landmark N1billion ($5 million) social innovation fund, called ‘Growth Capital’.
The fund supported by impact investment firm, Omidyar Network as well as local based partners, Venture Garden Group and the Bank of Industry (BOI) will focus on social tech ventures providing local solutions to press needs.
According to a press statement issued by Co-Creation Hub, the Growth Capital fund will be used to “deepen support for early stage social enterprises solving local problems across various sectors of the Nigerian economy”.
“The Growth Capital Fund will provide funding from $25,000 to $150,000 and will start taking applications from January next year”, it adds.
Co-Creation Hub has gained credible experience with regard to funding local tech enterprises and start-ups. In 2014, it announced a $500,000 investment fund to support early stage start-ups.
Regarded as Nigeria’s first start-up incubator, Co-Creation Hub is based in the heart of Yaba, the acclaimed epicenter of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem and from its base, the incubator has housed start-ups, providing founders with grants and support, hosting tech events and offering partnerships.
In the last five years, the Co-Creation Hub incubator has been home to over 50 tech start-ups including Budg IT, a civic enterprise focused on simplifying government budgets as well as leading causes for government accountability, and We Cyclers, a waste recycling start-up which won a $50,000 prize from the Case Foundation, run by AOL co-founder Steve Case, in August.
By Olisemeka Obeche