The Federal Government yesterday unveiled a N50 million Student Venture Capital Grant (SVCG) for students across tertiary institutions.
The grant is to promote innovation, research excellence, and entrepreneurship.
The government said it was targeting 250,000 students in the first cohort, with over 100,000 already enrolled and receiving training in 1,620 centres nationwide.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who unveiled the initiative in Abuja, described it as a bold step towards empowering young innovators and building a robust national innovation ecosystem.
The minister said the application portal opened on November 17 and will close on January 23, next year, with the evaluation process beginning immediately afterwards.
He said the programme represented a strategic national investment in young innovators and aligned directly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for Education.
Alausa said the SVCG was conceived to promote creativity, enterprise, and economic independence among students, adding that President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to youth development formed the backbone of the programme.
The minister described the S-VCG as more than a grant scheme, noting that it is designed to identify high-potential ideas from campuses and nurture a culture of creativity and enterprise among students.
He said beneficiaries would receive up to N50 million in equity-free seed funding, alongside intensive incubation, expert mentorship, and access to networks and critical startup-building tools.
According to him, the initiative will be jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFund), in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, Afara Initiative, Afrilabs, the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre, and Google.
He said the programme was open to full-time students in federal, state, and private tertiary institutions from Year 3 and above, with younger students allowed as team members.
Alausa said: “The S-VCG is structured to identify exceptional talent, give them a fair and credible opportunity to succeed, and inspire thousands of others to believe in their capacity to innovate.
“We know that many successful founders did not thrive on their first attempt. But their journey began with a spark. This programme exists to light that spark, build a new culture of confidence, and showcase to the world the depth of Nigerian ingenuity.
“Beneficiaries of the S-VCG will receive a comprehensive support package tailored to increase their chances of building viable and scalable ventures.”
Alausa added that eligible ventures must have a CAC-registered business name and be rooted in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medical Sciences fields.
He said every application would undergo thorough evaluation, with shortlisted teams pitching before a 12-member expert panel drawn from academia, industry, venture capital, and government.
Participants would receive feedback and may be paired with complementary teams to encourage collaboration and shared innovation.
He stressed that the S-VCG is expected to accelerate research commercialisation, support intellectual property development, and position students to produce high-impact solutions with global relevance.
“Not every idea will become a startup, but some will evolve into patents and licensable technologies capable of significant impact,” he said.
