The Federal Government through its ongoing 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program, has opened applications for an Innovation Challenge, where 6 fellows or teams from the Cohort 1 of the program can win N1 million each.
The program is seeking to challenge fellows in Cohort 1 of the 3MTT to apply their technical skills to solve societal challenges in Nigeria.
According to a notice issued by the 3MTT team, participants can apply individually or as a team to stand a chance to win a grand prize.
Aside from the monetary prize, the team said participants also stand the chance of getting a 1-week pre-incubation boot camp in Lagos, an opportunity for equity funding, a demo day showcase to investors, LinkedIn and Azure scholarships, and internet routers with 500GB data.
How to participate
According to 3MTT, fellows intending to participate in the Challenge will need to do the following:
- Explore current social issues in Nigeria.
- Engage with local communities or use surveys to understand their challenges.
- Choose issues that align with your technical skills and potential impact.
- Clearly define the problem, who it affects, and why it is important
- Create a 3–5 minute pitch video and submit your application
- You can apply as an individual or as a team (maximum of 5 people)
Submission of ideas is expected to close on Monday, March 25, 2024, according to the notice released by the program team. Interested fellows can apply here.
What you should know
The Innovation Challenge comes as one of the several ways the Federal Government is empowering participants of the 3MTT program through which the government is targeting to train 3 million Nigerians.
- The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, while flagging off the second cohort of the program, disclosed that a significant number of fellows in the first cohort of the program were being placed into jobs as interns all over the country.
- Beyond that, he said all the fellows from the first phase are now at a stage where they will be participating in hackathons within their states to put what they’ve learned into practice; working together with their peers, and building solutions that can showcase their expertise.
- In addition to job placement, Tijani said the government was working on the possibility of providing unemployment benefits for Nigerians participating in the program.
The second phase of the program, which was launched on February 29th this year accommodates 270,000 young and old Nigerians as fellows for the second cohort of the program, bringing the figure to 10% of the 3 million after the first 30,000.
