Local content: NCDMB lifts five start-ups businesses with $10, 000 grant.

Chinazor Megbolu |

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is boosting local content with innovation in a bid to address local problems in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

The agency in a statement obtained on Sunday noted said the five winning innovators in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology Hackathon would have a sustained institutional and financial support from NCDMB and other stakeholders in the sector towards ensuring they become successful in their businesses.

The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, in his address at the Demo Day in Lagos, said the five startups showcased their homegrown innovative solutions geared towards solving local problems in the industry and related sectors.

He pointed out that the NCDMB had already given $10,000 grant each to the startups, namely; AirSynQ, Fuel Intellisense, Gricd Mote, Homefort Energy and Kiakia Gas. Wabote maintained that the startups had completed a three-month incubation programme, where resources and mentors helped them identify their pilot clients and markets.

“The NOGTECH Hackathon was launched in July 2020 under the sponsorship of NCDMB and 630 promising startups applied, with 15 finalists selected at the end of the screening phase,” the statement said.

Furthermore, the statement added that the 15 groups took part in the three-day Hackathon stage in September 2020, led to the emergence of the top five teams selected.

Wabote, however, declared that the board would continue to encourage the five startups using the Nigerian Content Research and Development Council (NCRDC), with membership from relevant institutions and the $50 million Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund.

“The NCDMB deploys an end-to-end strategy in its projects and will not relent until the innovations are fully deployed and begin to solve societal problems,” Wabote said.

He posited that some of the solutions extended beyond the oil and gas sector and would impact the health sector, community surveillance and the military in their fight against insurgence.

“These are innovative solutions to everyday problems that we face in the country; it is beyond the oil and gas industry.

“The NOGTECH Hackathon initiative promotes research and development and capacity building, and constitutes key pillars of NCDMB’s mandate and its 10-year strategic roadmap,” Wabote said.