Business
SOLAP Enterprise Hub Produces First Winner, Awards N1.5m to Top Pitch Winner
A young entrepreneur, Magaji Emmanuel, founder of MJ Farms, has emerged winner of the maiden edition of the SOLAP Enterprise Hub, Youth Entrepreneurship Program 2025, clinching a N1.5 million business investment grant at the grand finale held Friday at Ordlin Event Center, Jos.
Emmanuel outperformed nine other finalists in a competitive live pitch session, following a six-week intensive training programme that began with hundreds of applicants drawn from Abuja, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kaduna States.
The SOLAP Enterprise Hub, Youth Entrepreneurship Program 2025, an initiative of SOLAP Group, is designed to nurture young entrepreneurs into wealth creators, job providers and drivers of community development. From over 100 applications received, 50 entrepreneurs were shortlisted and trained, with only 10 advancing to the final pitch stage.
Presenting his business model, Emmanuel, a Quantity Surveying student of Kaduna State University, showcased his integrated poultry farm which not only produces poultry birds but also converts poultry waste into organic hybrid fertilizer. His innovation, aimed at addressing rising fertilizer costs, earned him the top prize.
Speaking after his victory, Emmanuel expressed gratitude to God and dedicated the achievement to his late father, whose initial vision inspired the business. He noted that the grant would help scale production and expand access to affordable fertilizer for farmers.
Earlier, the Group Managing Director of SOLAP Group, Arc. Akosu Paul, said the initiative forms part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to support young entrepreneurs with viable ideas through training, mentorship and grants.
He explained that the programme aims to raise 100 millionaires within the next 10 years, stressing the importance of investing in youth who possess the energy, vision and fewer distractions needed to grow sustainable businesses.
The event also featured a panel discussion on “Thriving in Uncertainty: Building Resilience and Entrepreneurship,” with experts including Chief Samuel Adetunji, Mrs Theresa Gofwen and Mrs Mary Oyewole, who shared insights on navigating business challenges.
In a show of support, Chief Adetunji donated an additional N100,000 each to the top three winners, as well as to the best female contestant and another participant who pitched a fish farming business.
Speaking at the event, Mr Val Okafor of the Val Okafor Company, implementing partner of the initiative, described the programme as a structured intervention aimed at bridging the gap between ideas and sustainable enterprises.
According to him, participants underwent practical training in business development, market research, branding and revenue strategies, equipping them with the skills needed to build viable businesses.
Other winners at the event included Ani Nnaemeka Kingsley of NovelArts, who emerged first runner-up with a N1 million grant for his innovative use of waste materials in interior décor and art production.
Mom Terkaa Titus of Jumo Farms secured the second runner-up position, winning N500,000 for his Agri-Rentals concept, a farm mechanization hub for smallholder farmers.
The top female contestant, Egba Agnes of AG’s Creations, also received an additional N500,000 grant to support her fashion design business and training academy for aspiring designers.
Organisers described the maiden edition as a success, noting that the initiative will continue to expand opportunities for young entrepreneurs across Nigeria.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed how entrenched interests benefiting from Nigeria’s fuel import and subsidy regime tried to frustrate the construction of his $20 billion refinery, describing them as a powerful “mafia” determined to preserve a lucrative subsidy system.
Mr Dangote said the resistance came from traders, shippers and local beneficiaries of Nigeria’s long-running petrol subsidy arrangement who saw the refinery as a threat to billions of naira in profits.
Speaking in an interview with Nicolai Tangen, chief executive officer of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, he said these interests worked to delay access to project land and frustrate the refinery’s take-off.
“All this would have been blocked by what you call the mafia in oil business to make sure that we don’t come and address these issues,” he said.
He said securing land to build his world-class refinery took five years, with one site delayed for three and a half years and another for one and a half years, as vested interests sought to stop the project.
“But we were not deterred at all. We were actually focused. We knew what we were doing,” he added.
Mr Dangote explained that for decades Nigeria spent huge sums importing refined petroleum products despite being a major crude producer, creating a system that enriched a few players at the expense of the wider economy.
He said subsidy payments alone reached nearly $10 billion annually.
“The people who were actually benefiting because Nigeria was giving almost about $10 billion every year as subsidy… there are shippers who are making tonnes of money, there are traders who are making tonnes of money,” he said.
He added that a small group also profited from local product allocations under the subsidy regime.
“So these are the people that are not agreeing for us to settle down because they believe that no, we are coming here to displace them. Of course, that’s what we have done now,” he said.
The refinery, which required the construction of an entirely new port, roads and water infrastructure, employed 67,000 people during construction, the African billionaire said.
Mr Dangote said the project became far larger and more difficult than initially imagined, but abandoning it was never an option.
READ ALSO: Dangote rejects NNPC’s bid for bigger refinery stake, pushes for wider ownership
“When you get to the middle of the ocean, you realise that the tide was bad. When you go forward, it’s bad. When you go backwards, it’s bad. So you have to work forward,” he said, using the analogy to paint a broader picture of the difficulties he encountered while building the refinery.
He said the refinery has now changed the market structure and significantly reduced the influence of those who depended on imports and subsidy payments.
The plant currently sources over half of its crude from Nigeria while also importing from Angola, Libya and the United States.
“We source about 56 per cent from Nigeria and some from Angola. We buy quite a bit from Angola, we buy from Libya, and we buy from the US. At one point, we were doing about seven to eight cargoes of WTI from the US. But we’re getting more of Nigeria’s crude now, he said.
Mr Dangote explained that the refinery is currently buying 21 cargoes every month in Nigeria. “That’s how big we are,” he added, stating that they are more than doubling the refinery.
“You know, in the next 30 months, we will be at 1.4 million barrels per day, which is huge,” he noted.
BY NECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The Securities and Exchange Commission has said it is placing artificial intelligence, data analytics and technology-driven regulation at the centre of Nigeria’s capital market reforms to attract both local and foreign investments.
Speaking at the FSDH Investor Conference 2026 in Lagos, the Director-General of the SEC, Emomotimi Agama, said the future of global investing would increasingly depend on the quality of intelligence, data and technology supporting investment decisions rather than the size of capital alone.
According to him, the era of “intelligent investing” has already arrived, driven by artificial intelligence, real-time analytics, distributed ledger technology and algorithmic systems that are reshaping how investments are priced, allocated and protected globally.
He said, “We are at the threshold of what scholars and practitioners are calling the era of intelligent investing — a paradigm in which data does not merely inform decisions, but actively participates in them.”
Agama noted that the SEC had embarked on what he described as the most comprehensive regulatory reform agenda in its history to ensure Nigeria remains competitive in the evolving global investment environment.
He explained that the Commission’s reforms were aimed at creating a forward-looking market structure capable of supporting intelligent investing through faster settlement systems, tokenised securities and deeper derivatives markets.
According to him, the Commission’s seven-pillar capital market infrastructure vision includes plans to achieve T+1 settlement cycles, expand digital assets regulation and build a comprehensive framework for tokenised securities.
The SEC boss said the Commission was also developing governance frameworks for artificial intelligence applications in the capital market to ensure transparency, accountability and investor confidence.
“We are developing AI governance frameworks for capital market participants — frameworks that demand explainability, accountability and algorithmic fairness. An investor in Nigeria deserves to know not only what decisions were made on their behalf, but how those decisions were reached,” he said.
Agama stated that intelligent investing must be inclusive and accessible to ordinary Nigerians, adding that the SEC’s fintech-bank integration strategy targets about 20 million retail investors across the country.
He said technology and data-driven investing tools could democratise access to wealth creation opportunities for small businesses, artisans and low-income earners who had previously been excluded from formal investment systems.
The SEC DG also stressed the importance of collaboration between regulators, financial institutions, fintech firms and investors in building a resilient and technology-driven market ecosystem.
According to him, Nigeria’s capital market reforms and adoption of intelligent investing frameworks would strengthen investor confidence, improve market transparency and position the country as a leading investment destination in Africa.
He added that the Commission was strengthening investor protection through enhanced enforcement mechanisms, financial literacy programmes and the establishment of a dedicated Investor Protection Department.
Agama said, “Confidence is the ultimate asset in a capital market. Every disclosure we enforce, every fraud we prosecute, every investor we educate adds to the stock of market confidence.”
He further noted that Nigeria’s growing role in African capital market integration and digital finance initiatives would help channel long-term investments into infrastructure, gender finance and other critical sectors of the economy.
The SEC DG commended FSDH Merchant Bank for creating a platform for stakeholders to discuss the future of intelligent investing, adding that collaboration and data-sharing among market participants would be critical to building globally competitive financial markets in Nigeria.
The post SEC positions AI, data-driven regulation to attract investments appeared first on Business Today NG.
-
News3 days agoFG donates foodstuffs to victims of bandits’ attacks in Plateau
-
News3 days ago
Riyom APC Youths Endorse Tinubu, Mutfwang, Dalyop Fom for Continuity Ahead of 2027
-
News3 days ago
Yusuf Gagdi Receives Massive Support as Ward Tour Begins Ahead of APC Primaries
-
News3 days ago
Governor Mutfwang Bans Night Mining and Grazing in Plateau After Deadly Attacks
