Enactus Nigeria has partnered with key public and private sector organisations to accelerate the commercialisation of homegrown engineering innovations through the Nigerian Engineering Olympiad, an initiative designed to transform students’ ideas into practical solutions for national development.
The partnership brings together the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Renaissance Africa Energy Company and First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company (First E&P) to nurture young engineering talents and bridge the gap between academic research and industry.
The Nigerian Engineering Olympiad was established to help engineering students convert innovative concepts into commercially viable businesses capable of addressing Nigeria’s development challenges. Speaking during the maiden edition of the competition held in Lagos, Enactus Nigeria Country Director, Michael Ajayi, said the initiative reflects the organisation’s commitment to empowering young Nigerians to develop sustainable solutions through entrepreneurship and innovation.
According to Ajayi, the competition attracted 375 applications submitted by 984 students from 80 tertiary institutions across Nigeria. After a rigorous selection process, 30 teams advanced to the regional stage, while 12 institutions secured places in the grand finale.
At the conclusion of the competition, Modibbo Adama University, Yola, emerged overall winner with its innovation known as Ubuntu Sapphire. The project is a community-powered rapid alert system that uses low-cost devices to instantly connect households with neighbours and emergency responders during crises. The winning team received the competition’s grand prize of N50 million, while the university’s engineering faculty was awarded a fully furnished engineering building.
The University of Ibadan finished as first runner-up with Aurora Birth, a health technology solution designed to reduce neonatal deaths caused by birth asphyxia in low-resource healthcare settings. The institution received N30 million, alongside engineering equipment worth N75 million for its engineering faculty.
The University of Jos secured third place with FarmAnchor, a solar-powered, artificial intelligence-enabled device that assists smallholder farmers in detecting crop pests, diseases and soil nutrient deficiencies through multispectral imaging and edge-based machine learning. The team was awarded N20 million, while its faculty received engineering equipment valued at N50 million.
Ajayi said Enactus Nigeria continues to collaborate with forward-looking organisations to develop programmes that address real community challenges through innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurial thinking.
According to him: “we have remained steadfast in our mission to empower young people to use entrepreneurial action to solve the world’s greatest challenges, starting with those in their immediate communities.”
He added that the organisation supports partners in designing and implementing projects that respond to societal needs through data-driven solutions capable of delivering measurable impact.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Khalil Suleiman Halilu, the agency’s Deputy Director of Engineering Infrastructure Department, Dr. Emmanuel Ajani, stressed the importance of innovation-led economic growth.
He noted that countries leading the global economy have achieved sustained development by investing in research, commercialising innovation and building technology-driven industries rather than relying solely on natural resources. The Nigerian Engineering Olympiad is expected to provide a platform for emerging engineers to transform research into commercially viable products, strengthen collaboration between academia and industry, and contribute to Nigeria’s industrial development and technological advancement.
