Ngozi Deborah Atalor, a Shell Nigeria LiveWIRE entrepreneur has emerged winner of the pitching competition for young Nigerian entrepreneurs in the alternative energy business.
The award was given as part of the #makethefuture Accelerator event held in Port Harcourt.
Mrs. Atalor got N1million prize money from Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), to boost her business.
The latest award is coming barely a month after she won a $5,000 merit category prize in the Shell LiveWIRE top 10 innovators competition.
The Shell LiveWire is a global contest aimed at rewarding shining cases of innovation in businesses supported by the programme.
Judges at the event assessed Mrs. Atalor’s presentation on how to light up all homes in Nigeria as the most convincing and realizable.
She was placed ahead of Ledee Basi and Ibiere Gilbert David respectively, who received N500, 000 as runners-up.
All three are startups from the LiveWIRE entrepreneurial programme for Niger Delta youths.
They all set up businesses that deliver energy solutions to customers in the Niger Delta and beyond.
While Basi’s Basiled Energy Ventures offers renewable energy, safety wears, and sensitisation services on the use of solar products, David’s Ibdav Resources firm provides bio-fuel clean cookstoves.
In addition to the cash prizes, the three entrepreneurs would also receive coaching support from Co-creation Hub, a leading innovation hub in Nigeria.
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“There is energy transition as we speak and things are changing towards cleaner energy. Nigeria should be part of those solutions that would sustain the globe going forward,” Igo Weli, the general manager, external relations, SPDC said.
“What we have done with the #makethefuture campaign Accelerator event here in Port Harcourt is to provide the platform for young Nigerian energy entrepreneurs to share their ideas on how they can be part of providing power solutions.”
He said the event was remarkable as the first initiative of its kind in energy solution initiative in Nigeria, with the fusion of strengths of telling Shell’s energy story and the flagship entrepreneurial programme, LiveWIRE, which has produced 6,580 Niger Delta entrepreneurs since 2003.
Chief Executive Officer All-on Partnership for Energy Access, a firm supporting and investing in energy solutions providers, Dr. Wiebe Boer, and other alternative energy experts led discussion sessions with the young entrepreneurs.
