Nigeria Internet Group to Grant N 1,000,000 for Young Entrepreneurs in I4J Competition

The Nigeria Internet Group has declared open the “Internet for Jobs” initiative designed to explore the potential of the Internet to create jobs for the people.

It is also aimed at transforming the country into a knowledge society, where business and government services are available online and the citizens are positively engaged in knowledge-driven activities.

Every year, the NIG gives out grants to young and innovative Information Technology entrepreneurs, who have built web-based solutions that have the potential of creating thousands of jobs.

The NIG President, Mr. Bayo Banjo, said on Monday that the group aimed at identifying good solutions and turning them into great and marketable solutions with the help of its expert network.

In view of this, Banjo said the NIG had called for submissions for the 2012 edition of the I4J grant to enable Nigerian Internet entrepreneurs apply for as much as N1m grant.

He said, “A grant of N1m will be given to every winner. Once winners have been announced, they will undergo rigorous entrepreneurial training as well as extensive mentoring sessions.

“Their solutions will also be analysed by web-solution experts and a growth plan with milestones and deliverables will be developed and executed subsequently.”

According to him, a close monitoring process has been put in place to ensure funds are used appropriately and with the core focus of growing the business.

He stressed that a dedicated mentor would be assigned to every grant recipient to ensure adequate guidance concentrated on the path of success and job creation.

The NIG president explained that the criteria for selecting winners included innovation, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, proof of concept, versatility, implemented solutions, sustainable concepts, business models and solutions.

Others, according to him, are collaboration, teamwork and presentation skills, among others.

“This year, NIG will have a theme and categories within the theme. The theme for this year’s competition is; ‘Web Solutions for National Development’,” he said.

The various categories include e-Commerce/e-Business solutions; mobile web solutions and apps; e-Government solutions; cloud solutions/software as a service; and social entrepreneurship solutions.