By Chioma Obinagwam
Nigeria’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector is about to witness a big bang with the launch of the 2023 WASH Innovation Fair & Incubation Programme.
Executive Secretary of FC4S Lagos, Emmanuel Etaderhi, told Confiance News in a statement on Saturday.
The programme, which is organised through the partnership of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4S Lagos) and the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center (NCIC), is sponsored by IHS, one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communication infrastructure in the world and FMDQ Group Africa’s foremost vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group.
“The partners/sponsors are excited to announce the second edition of this epochal event coming on the heels of the awards received at the SERAs Awards in December 2022. At the event, IHS (Nigeria) Limited won multiple awards for its contributions to sustainability. In particular, it emerged along with FMDQ Group among the top six companies in Africa for Best Company in Water and Sanitation,” the statement disclosed.
FMDQ stated that this year’s WASH Innovation Fair event is the second in the series, with the first WASH Innovation Fair held on November 22, 2021, and is themed Innovating for Sustainable Growth in WASH Sector.
It noted that as in the first edition, the focus is on identifying SMEs with innovative ideas in the WASH Sector.
According to the statement, IHS (Nigeria) Limited and its partners will be supporting the top five SMEs with technical, commercial and business advice to enable them to take their innovative ideas from initiation to market entry.
“At the end of the Incubation Programme, the five winners will receive a cash prize of N3.5 million each.
“The process involves a Call for Entry for a Hackathon that will culminate in selecting the top five winners with the smartest and most practical ideas fit for implementation,” it explained.
Confiance News learned the event aims to contribute to the drive by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to end open defecation by 2025 and to make clean water and sanitation readily available to all Nigerians in line with Goal 6 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Other attractions during the 2023 event, which commenced March 3, 2023, includes a Roundtable Session, which will hold on April 27, 2023 and a four months incubation programme to assist the winners in implementing their winning ideas. At the roundtable session, subject matter experts, key industry players, development partners and C-suite executives and local/international financing partners will deliberate on the vexing issues limiting the growth of the sector and key strategies for exploiting the estimated $21 billion opportunities identified last year at the World Toilet Summit by stakeholders.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with NCIC and IHS (Nigeria) Limited once again to support the fight against open defecation and improve access to clean water and sanitation facilities,” Etaderhi said.
“The WASH Innovation Fair is a unique opportunity to drive innovation and create positive change in the water sector while promoting handwashing habits. Sectors experience progressive growths when innovation is allowed to thrive. We are thrilled that the project aims to scale the innovative ideas in the WASH sector just like we have been doing at NCIC for other cleantech sectors.” Oluwatosin Ajide, Programs Manager, Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre.
IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world, and sustainability is at the heart of IHS’ business. The company aims to positively impact the communities and the people where it operates, focusing on its four pillars of ethics and governance, environment and climate change, people and communities, and education and economic growth. It is a major sponsor of the FC4S/NCIC WASH Innovation Fair and Behavioural Change Campaigns.
Intending participants should contact info@washinnovationfair.com or exhibition@washinnovationfair.com for more information about the event.
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