$1m The Venture competition now open to Nigerian startups

Startups in Nigeria can now compete to win their share of US$1-million from Chivas Regal’s The Venture competition, which aims to ultimately recognise and support social enterprises from emerging markets.

“We’re excited to announce the launch of The Venture and can’t wait to discover aspiring entrepreneurs across Nigeria,” said Pernod Ricard Nigeria marketing director Sola Oke. “Whether your business focuses on technology, agriculture, healthcare, food or the environment, we want to hear about it.”

The competition will consist of three main stages: an open assessment process which identifies the 15 startups that will make it to the Semifinal Boot-Camp of the competition; the bootcamp where five startups will be selected; and the finals which will be held in December 2016. The overall winner will then proceed to the international stage of the competition, to engage with finalists from other parts of the world.

In the 2015 edition of the competition, South African fire detection startup Lumkani, which sells early warning fire detection systems for informal settlements, won US$75 000 from Chivas Regal. Uruguay’s livestock-tracking startup Chipsafer and Japan’s field-monitoring SenSprout each won US$150 000. Diseclar from Columbia received US$75 000 for turning waste into furniture.

Read more: Chivas Regal awards SA fire detection startup Lumkani $75k

To herald the Nigeria launch, Chivas Regal has partnered with the Lagos-based, Co-Creation Hub, to reach out to social entrepreneurs across all fields and identify exciting business ideas.