The Orange Corners Nigeria Incubation Programme is a transformative initiative that empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their visions into thriving businesses. The programme, which is an initiative of the Kingdom of Netherlands and implemented by the FATE Foundation, has successfully nurtured 180 businesses through nine cohorts over the past five years. This is a testament to the dynamic ecosystem that the programme provides, which includes training, master classes, events, coaching and mentoring, as well as access to potential customers, markets and financing.
The programme helps to build the capacity of participants through a mix of interactive enterprise training, mentoring, advisory and business support services. This enables each participant to fully develop their idea from a concept to a viable product or service. The curriculum includes a range of topics such as concept development, design thinking, market strategy, budgeting, financial management, and digital marketing, among others.
The FATE Foundation/Orange Corners Incubation Programme provides a range of benefits to participants, including enterprise management training, business incubation and advisory services, funding for prototype development and testing, and mentorship and coaching. In addition, business growth advisory, funding linkages, and market linkages are also offered to participants.
The selection process involves a review of all received applications, after which 30 candidates will be shortlisted for a 2-day boot camp, followed by a pitch competition to shortlist the top 20 participants per stream for the incubation programme.
The programme is free to entrepreneurs who are shortlisted for the boot camp and incubation stage, thanks to scholarship support from Orange Corners Nigeria, funded by the Kingdom of Netherlands and other partners. Applicants are required to complete all the necessary fields and upload the required documents, including a passport photograph, school certificate or statement of result, birth certificate, and CAC registration (optional). The application deadline is February 18, 2024, and interested and qualified applicants can apply on the Orange Corners website.