Three Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs Win TotalEnergies StartUpper Challenge with N8m Grant Each

Peter Uzoho

Three Young Nigerian entrepreneurs with innovative startup of minimum three years of operation yesterday emerged winners of the 2024 edition of the TotalEnergies StartUpper of The Year Challenge, with each handed N8 million grant as financial support.

Temitope Yakubu of Interkool by FarmCl won in the Innov’Up Category of the competition; Jacob Abiodun of Coconoto emerged winner in the Cycle’Up Category while Emmanuel Abah of Waste2Light Limited emerged victorious in the Power’Up Category.

The three winners under 18 and 35 years age bracket, who were among the 15 finalists selected in Nigeria were unveiled in Lagos on Tuesday, at a ceremony marking the end of the show that spanned months of active pitching of their business ideas against themselves in their respective categories.

They were also among the 100 winners that emerged from the 32 participating African countries to celebrate the 100 years of TotalEnergies’ existence as an energy giant present in many countries and continents of the world including Africa.

Under the competition’s rule, every participating startup resides in any of the participating countries and each country produced three winners, with additional four Pan-African Grand Prize winners selected for ‘Sustainable and Affordable Energy’ by an international jury for the Power’Up category.

According to the organisers, the StartUpper of The Year Challenge is only for entrepreneurs who have created an innovative startup within the last three years, with a positive impact on their communities or for the planet, independent of their activity sector.

Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman of TotalEnergies Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Bouyer, explained that the essence of the project was for the company to support and participate in the development of dynamic and responsible entrepreneurial ecosystem, bringing together players from different sectors to bring about new economic models to improve the living conditions of populations and respect for the planet as well as highlight local, social and environmental responsible initiatives.

By promoting African youth through the project, Bouyer stated that “TotalEnergies wishes to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as lend its supports to the socio-economic development of the countries in which the company operates, by supporting the most innovative young entrepreneurs in the realization of their projects. The challenge contributes to strengthening the local social fabric through responsible projects.”