Opeoluwani Akintayo
09 October 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Total has launched the 2018/2019 Startupper of the Year challenge to support and reward young local entrepreneurs.
This year’s round of competition comes following the success of the first Startupper of the Year challenge held in 2015 in more than 30 African countries.
The Startupper challenge by Total supports and rewards young local entrepreneurs in any business sector with a project or business less than two years old.
A local jury, comprising of experts from Total, specialists from incubators and accelerators, business and local community stakeholders, will select three winners in each participating country.
The projects will then be assessed based on their innovative nature, social and community impact and feasibility and development potential.
Each winner will be awarded the “Starupper of the Year by Total” label and receive financial support of at least N2.6 million plus professional coaching and extensive publicity to advertise their projects.
On what new will be added to this round of competition, Total said it would be supporting women entrepreneurs. This special award in addition to other awards, is “Total’s way of encouraging more women to take part in the Challenge”.
“More than just a business challenge, the 2018-2019 Startupper of the Year by Total also reaffirms Total’s commitment to capacity building in the countries where it operates worldwide. The Challenge strengthens the local fabrics by helping innovative young entrepreneurs to realise their projects,” the company said in a statement.
Speaking at the launch, one of the juries, CEO, Quest Advisory Services Ltd., Mr. Bayo Rotimi, commended Total for its support to local entrepreneurs.
According to him, the future of Nigeria will be driven by entrepreneurs.
“The principal challenges being faced by local entrepreneurs in Nigeria is lack of capacity building and mentorship. Many have capital for business but do not know how to go about developing and sustaining their businesses,” he said.
“The focus of this challenge is innovation and I want to assure everyone that we will be fair and impartial. Candidates with best ideas will emerge winners,” he added.
Winner of the 2015 challenge, Opeyemi Owosho of Fitco Tech, said the Challenge gave him “feasibility and improved my chances of survival”. “Anybody can get money but execution is key. I enjoyed the coaching, mentoring and funding I received,” he said.
On his part, the managing director, Total Nigeria Plc, Barry Imrane, said the company will continue to support capacity building in Nigeria and Africa.
Registration opens on October 9 at http://startupper.total.com/. Interested candidates will have until November 13 to submit applications.
