The Nigerian government has opened the application portal for the Student Venture Capital Grant (S-VCG), a programme designed to support student-led ventures with equity-free grants of up to N50 million
The Minister of Education, Mr Tunji Alausa announced that the programme is part of the government’s effort to discover high-potential innovations within higher institutions, according to a statement by Mrs Folasade Boriowo, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education.
“The President has challenged us to look for the next moonshot within our tertiary institutions. We are not just looking for projects; we are scouting for future Nigerian unicorns whose roots will be planted right here in our universities and colleges. This is an equity-free seed investment in Nigeria’s future,” he said.
The Ministry noted that the grant provides up to N50 million to student innovators in STEMM fields—Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medical Sciences.
The S-VCG, also known as the STEMM Up Grant, was first announced in July and officially launched on August 2. It forms part of the government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aimed at nurturing student innovations into commercially viable, high-impact ventures.
The grant specifically targets full-time undergraduate students in 300-level and above across accredited Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The initiative is backed by a new partnership with Google, with the Ministry saying that Google’s Gemini Ai will power custom evaluation agents embedded into the application portal to support the screening process.
Also, applicants while complete submissions will receive a one-year Gemini Pro license to access educational resources.
Successful applicants will also receive mentorship, incubation support, and business development services to scale their ventures and tackle real-world challenges.
The programme is being implemented in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to ensure transparency, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
This move extends recent moves by the Nigerian government to play and support the nation’s innovation ecosystem. Last month, through the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme, the country invested for the first time in Ventures Platform’s $64 million fund raise. It also announced plans to launch two additional funds next year.