…Eight top-performing founders to receive up to ₦5 million each in non-dilutive funding—Olawande
The Federal Ministry of Youth Development (FMYD), through the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), has partnered with Cascador, a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders, to strengthen opportunities for young Nigerian entrepreneurs to build investment-ready businesses and gain access to capital.
The partnership, announced as part of activities marking the 2026 International Youth Day, themed “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations,” is aimed at strengthening the pathway for young Nigerians to move from skills development and business ideas to investment-ready enterprises, business growth and sustainable economic participation.
Announcing the partnership, the Honourable Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, said the initiative underscores the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that youth empowerment extends beyond training to include practical opportunities for entrepreneurship, enterprise development, and access to finance.
“For NiYA, training is only one part of the journey. The real value is in helping young people move from learning to enterprise, from ideas to investable businesses, and from potential to sustainable economic participation. The partnership with Cascador strengthens that pathway by combining business preparation with access to capital, particularly for young founders who may not yet have the formal structures or financial history that traditional funding often requires.”
The NiYA × Cascador Founders Programme will commence with a pilot cohort of 20 early-stage Nigerian youth founders, including entrepreneurs who may not yet have formal business registration or established financial track records.
Over an intensive four-week programme, participants will receive training in business fundamentals, investment readiness, and pitch preparation, complemented by virtual engagements and one-on-one mentorship sessions.
At the conclusion of the programme, the eight top-performing founders will each receive up to ₦5 million in non-dilutive funding from Cascador, alongside an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution to help them structure, manage, and scale their businesses.
The programme will culminate in a Pitch Day, organized by NiYA/FMYD, where participants will present their businesses before a panel of judges.
The Minister said the pilot represents an important step towards NiYA’s broader ambition of training and empowering seven million Nigerian youths within two years, while establishing a more practical connection between youth skills development, entrepreneurship, business growth, and access to finance.
He further explained:
“The pilot is deliberately designed to test a model that can go beyond one cohort. If young founders can be identified early, prepared properly, connected to credible capital and supported to build stronger business systems, then access to opportunity becomes less dependent on background or existing networks.
“That is the larger objective: to build a youth entrepreneurship ecosystem in which readiness, ideas, and execution can increasingly determine who gets the opportunity to grow.”
Under the partnership, FMYD and NiYA will oversee participant sourcing, training, and day-to-day programme delivery, while Cascador will support the development of eligibility criteria, investment-readiness preparation, pitch judging, and funding for the top-performing participants.
Speaking on the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer of Cascador, Trish Thomas, said the initiative would provide a practical bridge between the ideation stage and access to capital.
“NiYA and FMYD have already shown what real commitment to Nigeria’s youth looks like, the platforms, the reach, the ambition to train millions. What we’re building together now is the missing piece, a practical bridge from the ideation stage to real capital-readiness. When a Ministry so dedicated to its young people asked Cascador to help build that bridge, it was an easy decision.”
The Chief Operating Officer of Cascador and former Managing Director of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, Oyin Solebo, described the partnership as an innovative approach to supporting young entrepreneurs.
“This is what innovative capital deployment looks like: a government building real investment readiness at scale, and a partner meeting that foundational work with non-dilutive funding at exactly the moment it’s needed. Partnerships like this open doors that neither of us could open alone.”
The pilot programme will be delivered in person in Abuja, complemented by virtual engagements and one-on-one mentorship sessions. All 20 participants who successfully complete the programme will retain NiYA alumni status, with priority consideration for future opportunities under relevant NiYA initiatives.
Applications for the programme will open on Wednesday, 19 August 2026. Interested young Nigerian entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit www.niya.gov.ng for eligibility requirements, further information, and application details.
Signed:
Omolara Esan
Director
Information and Public Relations Department