The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has announced the shortlist of tech innovators, who will advance to the final pitch during the bank’s annual flagship Techpreneur Summit.
According to the bank, the initiative aims to foster growth in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector by leveraging innovative technological solutions.
The bank added that Techpreneur Summit 2024 seeks to promote and showcase investor-ready technology innovations within Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, while providing access to a pipeline of investors and subsequently funding to qualified techprenuers.
The theme of the DBN Techpreneur Summit 2024 is, ‘Catalysing Tech Innovation: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Regenerative Growth.’ Over 100 tech companies are on the longlist of entries received for the pitch at the expiration of the timeline for submission of ideas.
Last weekend, a panel of evaluators consisting of respected industry leaders held the pre-selection session to assess each submitted entry in line with the criteria and guidelines set for the participating innovators.
At the end of the pre-screening, a total of 20 tech innovators drawn from across fintech, health tech, transport, IOT and other segments scaled the hurdles to the final pitch stage.
Speaking on the significance of the pre-selection process, Managing Director/CEO, DBN, Dr Tony Okpanachi, said it was a very important stage to narrow the space for the best among equals, adding that it was also a cost and time-saving mechanism for both the innovators and evaluators.
