{"id":14013,"date":"2026-11-10T10:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T10:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/uspf-invites-nigerian-innovators-to-solve-rural-tech-and-access-gaps-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T10:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T10:18:18","slug":"uspf-invites-nigerian-innovators-to-solve-rural-tech-and-access-gaps-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/uspf-invites-nigerian-innovators-to-solve-rural-tech-and-access-gaps-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"USPF invites Nigerian innovators to solve rural tech and access gaps – Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internet access remains a dream for many Nigerians in rural communities today. To bridge this gap, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) opened applications for its 2026 Changemaker Challenge, a nationwide innovation competition seeking homegrown ICT solutions that improve life for underserved communities in Nigeria.\n<\/p>\n

The call for entries, which began November 2nd, invites Nigerian-based innovation teams and early-stage startups to submit practical solutions in one of five areas: agriculture, education, healthcare, financial inclusion, and clean, affordable energy.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation should not be limited by geography. Through the USPF Changemaker Challenge, we want to reach innovators across Nigeria who understand the challenges facing unserved and underserved communities and have practical solutions to address them,\u201d Odiong Akpan, Chief Executive Officer, Ubulu Africa, stated.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage teams with promising ICT-enabled solutions to apply and take advantage of this opportunity to demonstrate their ideas and access support to develop them further.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

This challenge is key because USPF\u2019s 2024 ICT gap study identified 87 clusters with an estimated population of 23.37 million people in rural areas with little or no access to telecommunications services. Nigeria has continued to battle teething development problems that are yet to abate. According to the World Bank, 86.8 million people lack access to electricity, while 26 percent of adults have no bank or formal finance access. In healthcare, the Nigerian Medical Association 2025 data reports that the doctor-to-patient ratio is 1 to 10,000, against the WHO target of 1 to 600.<\/p>\n

Many of the problems these communities face in farming, learning, healthcare, energy, and access to money can be eased with the right digital tools, and the people best placed to build them are often Nigerians who understand those problems first-hand.\n<\/p>\n

Read Also:\u00a0Okra Solar secures $7 million from UK lender to close Nigeria\u2019s power gap<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

To participate, teams must have between two and five members, all aged 18 and above. Applying is completely free, and applications remain open online at uspf.gov.ng until November 15, 2026, at 11:59 PM WAT.\n<\/p>\n

Entries will be assessed on whether the solution has a clear ICT component, responds to one of the published problem statements, and shows credible evidence that it can work for the people it is meant to serve.\n<\/p>\n

The Challenge is designed to reach innovators in every part of the country, and every state is encouraged to apply. After initial screening, 50 teams will advance, representing one team from each state and the FCT, alongside 13 more selected strictly on merit.<\/p>\n

These shortlisted teams will demonstrate their solutions live at the Regional Demo Days, with one event held for each geopolitical zone. One team from each zone will then advance to the National Demo Day, where the top three will share a N10 million prize pool, and all six finalists will join an intensive four-week incubation programme\n<\/p>\n

Full eligibility criteria, the challenge areas, and the application form are available directly from uspf.gov.ng.<\/p>\n

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Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Internet access remains a dream for many Nigerians in rural communities today. To bridge this gap, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) opened applications for its 2026 Changemaker Challenge, a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}