Key Details
Read This Before You Apply
- Your business must be registered with CAC. This is not optional and it is the single most common reason good student ventures get knocked out. The organisers state plainly that your project must have a business registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria. If you are not registered yet, sort that first — the Federal Government is currently registering businesses free of charge, and it takes days, not months.
- An idea is not enough this time. The organisers say your concept must be "beyond proof of concept" — developed far enough to show real-world potential. A pitch deck describing something you have not built will not pass.
- You must be 300 level or above. If you are in 100 or 200 level, you can still get in, but only as part of a team whose lead is a 300-level-or-above student named as co-founder or partner.
- You need a written business plan with numbers. Specifically: your expenditure milestones and your key performance indicators. The money is released against those milestones, so vague plans stall your own payments later.
- Screening is partly automated. Applications go through an AI-assisted first pass, then ten human evaluators, then virtual presentations, then a three-day boot camp with an in-person pitch. Write the application to be read by both a machine and a person — plain, specific, no padding.
- Cohort 1 drew 30,639 applicants from 404 institutions. Roughly 600 people applied for every place. Assume the same crowd and submit early rather than on deadline day.
About This Opportunity
The Student Venture Capital Grant is a Federal Ministry of Education programme, announced under President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda and sitting inside the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative. It is also called the Next Moonshot Initiative. Cohort 1 ran through 2025 and 2026 and shortlisted 65 student innovators by March 2026. This is Cohort 2, opened on 4 September 2026.
The pitch from the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, is direct: the government is not looking for school projects, it is looking for businesses. In his words, the aim is to scout "future Nigerian Unicorns whose roots will be planted right here in our universities and colleges", and the money is framed as an equity-free seed investment rather than a prize.
What makes this unusually good value is the structure. Up to ₦50 million with no shares taken is better than almost anything on the private market — the same money from an investor would typically cost you 10% to 25% of your company. The trade-off is that funding is milestone-based, so you draw it down in stages against targets you set yourself in the application.
There is also a consolation prize worth knowing about. Every submitted project goes into a national Innovation Repository that stays visible to peers, institutions, partners and investors — and applicants who are not selected still receive structured written feedback. Applying is therefore not a total loss even if you do not win.
A nationwide roadshow runs from 6 to 30 September across nine institutions including the University of Abuja, Nile University, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bayero University Kano, Kano University of Science and Technology, Federal Polytechnic Kaduna, Ambrose Alli University, the University of Lagos and Covenant University, with a Campus Ambassador Programme in 20 more.
Eligibility At A Glance
| Must be a student | Yes — enrolled at a Nigerian tertiary institution, public or private |
|---|---|
| Minimum level | 300 level or equivalent (or on a team led by one) |
| CAC registration | Required |
| Sector | Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medical Sciences |
| Stage | Beyond proof of concept — not an idea on paper |
| Business plan | Required, with expenditure milestones and KPIs |
| Apply alone or as a team | Either is allowed |
Official portal: svcg.education.gov.ng, run by the Federal Ministry of Education. FundFinder AI surfaces opportunities — always verify details on the official source before applying.