JICA 2022 NINJA Accelerator Program for Nigerian Entrepreneurs

Next Innovation with Japan NINJA Accelerator Program is a startup support initiative by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) launched in January 2021, to promote innovation and creation of new businesses in emerging countries. Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) Accelerator in Nigeria – 2nd Cohort is designed to enhance the Nigerian startup ecosystem by strengthening underperforming and necessary sub-sectors in sectors (such as agriculture, health and cleantech) in Nigeria. It is expected to have collaboration among participants in the supply chain, contribute significantly to economic growth and promote promising youths with innovative businesses. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in 2021, commissioned an ecosystem mapping report of Nigeria’s startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem with emphasis on the agritech, health tech or cleantech sectors. 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 the nutrition, mobile health/fitness apps, healthcare marketing and many more subsectors. Unlike the Agric and healthtech sectors, the cleantech sector in Nigeria is in its growth stage, and with the global shift towards environmental sustainability and responsibility, there is a need to support innovation in this sector.