A Nigerian clean energy startup, Homefort Energy has secured 5,000 dollars grant funding after winning the Kingdom Hackathon Prize of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
Kingdom Hackathon, which took place at WorkCity in Lagos over the weekend, is a tech event focused on solving social problems through technology. It is an initiative of the Young Adults and Youth Affairs of RCCG.
Speaking at the occasion, International Director of Programmes and Church Planting, RCCG Young Adults and Youth Affairs, Oluwadamilare Adeboye described Kingdom Hackathon as an initiative designed by RCCG in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Adeboye said that this was to support African youths to unleash their entrepreneurial potential to lead the change so desired by Africa.
He encouraged the winners to utilise the resources provided to them to scale their solutions to make meaningful social impact and to also set the pace for other enterprising African youths.
In his remarks, Founder of Homefort Energy, Opeyemi Owosho said the platform would give him the leeway to upscale his business.
Owosho added that it would motivate him to deliver affordable cooking gas services to Nigerians.
“The Kingdom Hackathon grant will give me the opportunity to scale my business and provide affordable cooking gas to many homes in Nigeria with easy-to-use technology,” he stated.
The second position went to Airsync, a balloon-powered satellite platform for detecting oil spill and vandalism, got a six months free voucher for office space and mentorship support from Workcity.
Third place went to Yudimy, a startup that leverages on behavioural science and machine learning for human capital development.
Yudimy also got six months free voucher for office space and mentorship support from Workcity.
No fewer than nine finalists were shortlisted for the competition after receiving applications from about 100 startup companies from Nigeria to compete for the grant.
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The finalists pitched their solutions to a judging panel comprising the National Youth Pastor of RCCG, Pastor Precious Akingbade, International Director of Programs and Church Planting, RCCG Young Adults and Youth Affairs, Pastor Oluwadamilare Adeboye, CEO of Boomerang-Havas Africa, Lanre Oyegbola, Head of Ecosystem FCMB, Jide Asegbeloyin, Head Special Project Schneider Electric, Jola Ola, Damilola Thompson of Echo VC and Philanthropic Lead Microsoft, Yemi Orimolade at a pitch event held at Workcity, Lagos.
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