The Zenith Bank Pitching Competition is a collaboration between Zenith Bank and Seedstars with the goal of supporting Nigerian minimum viable product (MVP) stage startups in advancing to the next stage of growth.

The competition is set to identify promising businesses and support the best startups that are using technology and innovative ideas to help solve the problems of the present to build a better future in the following areas:

• Future of Wholesale and Retail
• Future of eCommerce
• Future of Payments
• Future of Lending
• Future of Wellness
• Future of Cybersecurity
• Future of EdTech
• Future of Electricity (power vending)
• Future of Agri-tech
• Future of Entertainment

Dr. Temitope Fasoranti, Executive Director of Zenith Bank shared, “As a leading financial institution in Africa with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products and solutions that ensure convenience, speed, and safety of transactions, we have always been at the vanguard of and remain committed to promoting technological innovations in the country.”

“In this vein, the Zenith Bank Tech Fair has been conceived – to discover, promote and empower the next big tech start-ups in Nigeria. It is our hope, therefore, that the fair will be a springboard for the competing start-ups and entrepreneurs, providing the needed support for them to become global technological brands in the near future.”

The Zenith Bank Pitching Competition is set to support participating startups by providing the necessary tools and expertise to support startup growth and development. Lean methodologies and best startup practices will also be taught to the cohort by Seedstars’ internal experts and selected external mentors.

Criteria for startups looking to join the competition are as follows:

• Existing startups/young tech companies (<3 years) in the Nigerian ecosystem;
• The startup must have a demonstrable product or service (MVP) or must demonstrate viability of business model;
• The startup needs to be scalable or have the potential to reach scalability;
• Startup must have a complete team;
• Startup must not have raised more than $75K; and.
• Startup must be operating in one of the sectors listed above.

The pitch competition taking place at the Zenith Tech Fair on November 22 and 23 will give the ten startups the opportunity to pitch their solutions for a chance to win the following cash prizes:

1st Prize: N15m (Fifteen million naira)

2nd Prize: N10m (Ten million naira)

3rd Prize: N5m (Five million naira)

The rest of the startups will be awarded a participatory prize of N1m (one million naira) each, and the top 5 startups will receive follow-on mentorship through Seedstars’ Mentorship Hub that will enable them to continue scaling their businesses and receive additional support from a global network of experts and investors.

Startups interested in joining the Zenith Bank Pitching Competition can send in applications before the 14th of November, here: seedsta.rs/ZenithBankPitchApplication.

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ABOUT SEEDSTARS

"They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds." - Mexican proverb

Seedstars is a Swiss-based private company with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. The group’s activities cover over 90 emerging ecosystems through a variety of initiatives such as the FTxSDG Challenge, previously known as the Seedstars World Competition, which is the largest entrepreneurship competition in emerging markets; Seedstars Programs that are designed to support entrepreneurs in varying stages of growth via training, education, mentoring, and access to resources; Seedstars Academy, a talent incubator providing digital skills and startup-based immersive education for the next generation of changemakers; Seedspace, physical coworking spaces and hubs located in 15 countries; and Seedstars International, a global venture capital fund for seed stage startups. For more information, visit www.seedstars.com.

ABOUT ZENITH BANK

Founded by Jim Ovia, CFR, Zenith Bank Plc was established in May 1990 and commenced operations in July of the same year as a commercial bank. The bank became a public limited company on June 17, 2004, and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), now the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), on October 21, 2004, following a highly successful Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Zenith Bank provides individual customers and corporate clients with a range of financial products and services from over 500 branches and business offices across all states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It also has a presence in the United Kingdom (UK), Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a Representative Office in China, and its shares are traded on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

In just over thirty years, Zenith Bank has grown enormously to become Nigeria’s largest and one of Africa’s largest financial institutions by tier-1 capital, with shareholders’ funds of NGN1.28 trillion ($3.03 billion) as at December 31, 2021.

For more information, visit www.zenithbank.com.

CONTACTS

Program

Daniella Charles

Program Manager

[email protected]

Media

Michaela Villaroman

Media Relations

[email protected].