Airtel Nigeria, a leading
telecoms operator, has launched ‘Catapult-a-Startup,’ an entrepreneurial
initiative aimed at inspiring innovation among start-up mobile application
developers towards actualising their business goals and dreams.
The initiative, according to
Airtel, will seek to help mobile app developers to receive funding, advanced
mentoring and marketing, also improve their skills to become successful using
their creativity.
To participate in the
programme, interested start-ups are to submit their ideas and presentations to
the Catapult-a-Startup’ website www.cas.ng,
for evaluation. After the initial evaluation, selected start-ups will be
invited to pitch their ideas to a panel of esteemed judges who will do a
thorough evaluation and select the best start up proposals.
The promoters of the
selected start up proposals will be subsequently supported with a cash prize of
one million naira, mentoring, funding, marketing and a chance to integrate
their developed apps and services on the Airtel platform gaining direct access
to the telco’s large customer base.
Speaking during the launch
in Lagos, Segun Ogunsanya, the managing director and chief executive officer,
Airtel Nigeria, explained that Airtel as an innovative and forward thinking
brand initiated the programme in line with its vision to encourage innovation
and empower young Nigerians by creating opportunities for them to bring their
business ideas to fruition.
He said: “At Airtel, we are
passionate about building a community for young talented Nigerians. We are
aware of the abundance of young people who are blessed with the skills to
develop relevant apps with most of them not having the opportunity to showcase
or develop their skills.
“Through the
Catapult-a-Startup programme, we aim not only to identify talent, but also to
encourage local content. The apps and services developed by these start-ups
will ride on Airtel’s superior 3.75G network in Nigeria and the large customer
base. Airtel will continue to go the extra mile at empowering them to succeed
in their respective endeavours.”
The Catapult-a-Startup is
uniquely geared towards empowering Nigerians especially those with superior
business acumen and it is open to all tech-savvy apps developers across Nigeria
which ties well with Airtel Nigeria’s vision of being the most loved brand in
the daily lives of Nigerians.
It would be recalled that
earlier this year, Airtel in partnership with Google, sponsored the Google
Cloud Developer Challenge that provided opportunities for thousands of young
Nigerians to improve their skills in apps development.
The Google Cloud Developer
contest saw the emergence of three winners who developed creative apps with
distinct features. They were rewarded with exciting cash prizes to enable them
to further improve their skills and become entrepreneurs.
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