SEDC to Fund 30 South-East Startups
The Southeast Development Commission, SEDC, says it will provide equity investment support to 30 young innovators from the South-East as part of efforts to strengthen entrepreneurship, technology, and startup development across the region.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Mr. Mark Okoye, disclosed this during the South-East Pitch Competition held in Enugu.
He said the initiative was designed to address major challenges confronting young innovators, particularly limited access to finance and inadequate support systems for startup founders.
Mr. Okoye noted that many talented young people from universities across the South-East had been forced to relocate to other parts of the country in search of funding opportunities and business support.
“We had the talent, the expertise, the entrepreneurial spirit and the commitment, but there were gaps within the ecosystem. One of them is access to finance and the second one is founder support,” he said.
He explained that the venture capital initiative was inspired by the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, which promotes innovative financing mechanisms to support industrialisation and digital growth across the country.
According to him, the programme represents a regional implementation of the President’s commitment to supporting innovation-driven enterprises and technology-based businesses.
Mr. Okoye disclosed that the commission spent its first year consulting widely with stakeholders across the South-East, including state governments, the private sector, civil society organisations, faith-based groups, and members of the diaspora before unveiling the programme.
He described the initiative as the soft launch of a broader venture capital programme expected to invest about 500 thousand dollars in startups across the region.
“It is not grants. It is not empowerment. It is a merit-based, transparent and governance-secured process that is an investment into each of these startups,” he stated.
The SEDC boss said more than 1,200 startups applied within the first three weeks of the programme, adding that the applications were later reduced to 189 after an initial screening process.
He said independent assessors further shortlisted 50 startups currently participating in the pitch competition in Enugu, while 30 startups would eventually emerge successful.
According to him, 20 successful startups would participate in the accelerator category for already operational businesses, while others would receive incubation support to develop minimum viable products.
Mr. Okoye explained that startups selected for the accelerator programme would receive 20 thousand dollars each in equity investment, while early-stage innovators would receive about five thousand dollars each.
He added that beneficiaries would also undergo a three-month mentorship and training programme covering business development, accounting, corporate governance, financing, and human resource management.
“We want to ensure that these businesses grow sustainably. This is equity investment and there will be proper monitoring and governance structures,” he added.
Also speaking, Executive Director of Finance and Chairman of the South-East Venture Capital Programme, Mr. Stanley Ohajuruka, described the initiative as one of the commission’s flagship programmes aimed at supporting innovators and expanding small businesses across the region.
Mr. Ohajuruka said the programme was inspired by the South-East apprenticeship system popularly known as the “Igba Boy” model, which he described as an early form of venture capital and business incubation.
“We want to modernise that unique system and use technology and innovation to build businesses that will benefit not only the entrepreneurs but society at large,” he said.
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