The New Phase student company from Brookstone Secondary School, Rivers, producers of an eco-friendly building block who emerged winner of the 2020 National Company Of the Year (NCOY) competition, will be representing Nigeria at the 10th Africa Company of the Year (ACOY) Competition.

NCOY is the culminating point for JAN’s flagship Company Program – a program that stirs up an urgency for entrepreneurship, leadership, creativity and other forms of impacts in the minds of young ones. It’s 2020 edition, held virtually on December 12, had 5 student companies from 5 different locations in Nigeria. The student companies are: 

• Amazing Amazon student company from Government Girls Secondary School, Abaji, Abuja; they developed an innovative healthcare technology that connects hospitals to blood banks and blood banks to donors
• Jikoru student company from Alvana Secondary School, Owerri; they developed a web platform that connects freelancers to jobs
• Alpha Tech student company from Comprehensive School of Management & Technology, Ebonyi; they developed a tyre fault detecting chip
• Innovative Vibrant Youth student company from International School, Lagos; they developed a mobile application to crowdfund towards feminine hygiene and tips for girls in underserved areas
• New Phase student company from Brookstone Secondary School, Rivers. They produced an eco-friendly building block.

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare who was the special guest of honour expressed how NCOY served as a hope for the future of the young ones in the country. He commended the students’ display of ingenuity in using technologies to promote their business ideas, extolling the spirit of entrepreneurship and volunteerism vested in the program and how the knowledge impacted can change the world for good.

“As the minister of youths and sports, we are committed to making sure that we turn our youths to entrepreneurs and that is why the idea of pitching their business idea is really exciting to me, they are starting early. We have a fund of N75 billion right now for youth entrepreneurs and we have to wait for our youths to apply but also to present us a convincing business idea. For us, entrepreneurship is the future for our youth, no country has been able to solve its unemployment problem without placing its youth on a pathway to entrepreneurship. I see the spirit of entrepreneurship blossoming in these young ones in secondary school’’ he stated. 

Mr. Dare concluded by thanking Junior Achievement for the platform and urged the students not to stop at where they are but to continually nurture the spirit of business and entrepreneurship because when they go out to the world, they would discover that the world has gone beyond just qualifications; “the world is interested in your ideas and skills and this is where the future lies”. He added.

We appreciate our sponsor – FirstBank Nigeria – judges, volunteers, and other partners who contributed to the success of the 2020 NCOY competition.