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About the Challenge
About the Challenge
Africa has one of the fastest-growing youth populations in the world. By 2050, research shows that one in every three young people will be African. This connects directly with the work of Doing Good Work in Africa (DOWA), ConnectED Diaspora and NiDCOM, which is focused on empowering young people and unlocking their potential across the continent and beyond.
Both organizations have partnered together to create an opportunity that seeks to fund the next top business-tech start-up in Nigeria. We bring to you the DOWA x ConnectED Diaspora x NiDCOM “Building, Breaking and Believing in Nigeria” Start-up Challenge.
The Goal
The goal of this challenge is to identify, empower and support young people to develop feasible tech-driven, innovative, and scalable business ideas that can shape the future of communities, industries, and economies, while also addressing pressing local challenges.
We invite young innovators, tech-driven thinkers, and bold problem-solvers - both in the diaspora and at home- to submit transformative ideas for the Building, Breaking and Believing in Nigeria: Start-up Challenge 2025.
The Challenge is Open to Undergraduates, Graduates, and recent Graduates of Nigerian descent, both home and abroad.
Participants may enter individually or as a team of up to two .
What You Stand to Gain
What You Stand to Gain
⚠️Winners outside Nigeria will be awarded the dollar equivalent of the naira prizes⚠️
Ist Place - NGN1,000,000
2nd Place - NGN500,00
3rd Place - NGN300,000
Other opportunities include:
Opportunity to present your final pitch at the ConnectED Diaspora “Building, Breaking & Believing” event;
Access to powerful DOWA × ConnectED Diaspora × NiDCOM networks and partners;
Guaranteed spot in the 2026 in-person Summer Internship with a Innovative Organization
Submission Requirements
Submission Requirements
Applicants MUST submit:
1. A two-page business ideation brief, written in English (Times New Roman, size 12, spacing 1.15, .docx format);
2. A graphic image visually representing the idea.
⚠: All briefs will be screened according to the challenge guidelines and reviewed by an independent panel of judges.
Judges Evaluation and Audience Vote:
Submissions of the one-page graphic design will be evaluated through an audience poll on Instagram.
Important Dates
Important Dates
Call for Applications: Nov 18, 2025 - Dec 12, 2025
Voting Opens from Dec 13, 2025 - Dec 17, 2025
Winner Announcement Dec 18, 2025
First place presentation: December 19, 2025 (in-person)
For questions and enquiries: info@dowafrica.org
Meet the Top 3 Winners
Meet the Top 3 Winners
Team Veriprop
Team Veriprop
Winner: Fortune Vaughan and Emmanuel Amoo
VeriProp is a secure, all-in-one digital platform designed to connect Nigerians in the diaspora with verified real estate opportunities back home. It was developed to eliminate the long-standing challenges of property fraud, unsafe payments, and unreliable intermediaries faced by Nigerians abroad when purchasing homes remotely.
The app integrates a complete real estate ecosystem, bringing together verified real estate firms, trusted law firms, secure escrow payment systems, interior and cleaning service providers, and logistics partners, within one user-friendly interface. This ensures transparency, accountability, and convenience throughout every stage of the property acquisition process.
First Place 2025 Start-up Award Presentation to Team Veriprop
First Place 2025 Start-up Award Presentation to Team Veriprop
From L-R: Ola Erogbogbo, Co-founder, DOWA; Nosa Okunsebor, Co-founder, Connected Diaspora; Dr. Kadri Hamzat, Deputy Governor, Lagos State; Emmanuel Amoo, Team Veriprop; Fortune Vaughan, Team Veriprop; Leostan Ekeh, Founder and Chairman, Zinox Technologies Ltd; Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, NIDCOM; Siji Abere, Co-founder, Connected Diaspora
Team Alama
Team Alama
First Runner-Up: Muhammad Al-Ameen
Alama is a hybrid USSD, MMS, and WhatsApp-based cultural IP protection network connecting African informal creators to diaspora buyers through community validation. Creators dial a USSD code on any phone to timestamp their work (music, textile, art, oral history); Al generates tamper-evident digital fingerprints; cultural custodians verify authenticity via USSD; diaspora buyers verify and license via WhatsApp, with automatic royalty splits. Operating offline-first on feature phones (almost 50% of Nigeria's market), Alama solves the digital colonisation crisis where Western Al erases African history. It transforms the invisible aspect of the economy into un-erasable, monetizable assets while preserving cultural sovereignty.
Team Nexus Botix
Team Nexus Botix
Second Runner-Up: Kenneth Idanwekhai
Nexus Botix is an African-focused Al automation platform that helps businesses deliver faster, smarter, and multilingual customer support. We build conversational Al chatbots that understand English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and local African languages, enabling organisations to engage customers in the languages they actually use. Our platform integrates easily with websites, WhatsApp, and social channels, allowing businesses to automate FAQs, support, lead generation, and onboarding without technical skills. By combining Large Language Models, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, and locally trained datasets, Nexus Botix helps SMEs, enterprises, and public institutions cut support costs, improve response time, and deliver more inclusive digital services
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