Employment and income
Work, earnings and livelihoods in a specific community or sector.
Build a business that solves what matters.
We help selected young Nigerians turn urgent local problems into sustainable businesses through free workshops, practical training, mentoring and venture-building support.
Selected participants never pay to join.
Talent is everywhere. Access is not.
Nigeria has a young, connected and highly entrepreneurial population. At the same time, many communities face unemployment, low income, food insecurity, pollution, limited access to essential services and other urgent challenges.
We believe entrepreneurs can build sustainable businesses around those challenges. The chapter helps participants move from lived experience and an initial idea to evidence, a business model and a practical next step.
The model is informed by the broader social-business idea: build a financially sustainable organisation around a social or environmental problem. ScaleGate does not claim an affiliation with Muhammad Yunus or any Yunus organisation.
A four-stage journey from problem to next milestone.
- 01
Discover
Choose a real problem, understand who experiences it and define why it matters. - 02
Test
Interview potential users, challenge assumptions and test whether the solution is useful. - 03
Build
Create the business model, basic financial logic, prototype and route to the first customer. - 04
Present and continue
Explain the venture clearly, receive feedback and define the next practical milestone.
What the programme can include.
The exact mix depends on the cohort, the partners involved and the stage of the participants selected.
- Problem discovery
- Customer interviews
- Business-model design
- Financial basics
- Product and prototype thinking
- Digital tools
- Storytelling and pitching
- Mentoring and peer review
- Follow-on venture support when available
Problems participants may work on.
Food and agriculture
Production, storage, distribution, quality and access to food.
Waste and pollution
Collection, reuse, recycling and cleaner local production.
Water and energy
Reliable, affordable access for households and small businesses.
Health and wellbeing
Prevention, access to services, information and everyday care.
Education and digital access
Learning, skills, connectivity and access to digital tools.
Participants are not required to work in these areas if another clearly evidenced community problem fits the programme.
Who the chapter is for.
Exact cohort location, dates, format and selection criteria are published when applications open.
- Young Nigerians with a problem they understand and want to solve
- Early teams with an idea, prototype or first evidence
- People willing to interview users and test assumptions
- Applicants able to participate consistently in the announced programme format
No participation fee for selected applicants.
The chapter is funded through separately raised philanthropic, corporate and institutional support. Its budget, participant selection, delivery and reporting remain separate from ScaleGate’s commercial founder engagements.
Participation does not create an obligation to purchase a ScaleGate service later.
How impact will be measured.
- Participants selected
- Programme completion
- Customer interviews completed
- Ideas tested
- Prototypes created
- Ventures formed
- First customers or pilots
- Continued activity after the programme
These are future reporting indicators, not current impact claims.