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National Sun Pitch Competition

SBN Nigeria NutriPitch Competition

The national SUN Pitch competition is a flagship initiative of SBN to provide an avenue to highlight scalable, innovative ideas that have the potential to contribute to addressing malnutrition. In Nigeria, the SBN team organised, with support from FATE Foundation, their own national pitch competition –theNutriPitch competition. The 2021 NutriPitch competition, with the theme ‘Improved Access to Safe, Nutritious Food’, aimed to provide dedicated and targeted support to early-stage high-potential and growth-driven businesses in food safety &nutrition through entrepreneurship education and support, mentorship and access to financing arrangements over a given period of time.

UduakIgbeka of SBN and Africa Regional Manager, GAIN, explained that 10 entrepreneurs were shortlisted for the 2021 NutriPitch competition which focused on promoting nutrition and scaling businesses in the nutrition sector. The shortlisted entrepreneurs who had recently participated in the FATE Foundation Orange Corners accelerator program, benefitted from an additional a two-day nutrition focused ‘bootcamp’ and business pitch training, to prepare them for the NutriPitch competition.

Competition Timeline

The NutriPitch competition determined the five winners of cash and equipment financing, which was distributed as follows:

Cash prize

1st Prize

₦1,000,000 (US$2,423)

2nd Prize

₦800,000 (US$1938)

3rdPrize

₦500,000 (US$1211)

Equipment financing

Prize

₦500,000 (US$1211)

Partners

In hosting the NutriPitch competition and bootcamp training sessions, SBN Nigeria partnered with FATE Foundation and the Orange Corners accelerator programme – a programme funded by the Netherlands Government to support entrepreneurship in Africa and the Middle East.

Meet Our Finalists

Final Event

The NutriPitch competition was held on June 30, 2021 at Radisson Blu, Ikeja Lagos. The event featured ten entrepreneurs in the food and nutrition sector and three judges (Dr. Adeyinka Onabolu; Senior Advisor on Food Security & Nutrition GAIN, John-Paul Iwuoha; CEO & Visionary-In-Chief, SmallStarter Africa, and AdebukolaOladapo; Associate Director, KPMG.

The businesses were assessed under the following parameters:

  • Adaptability
  • Affordability
  • Commercial viability
  • Growth potential
  • Innovation
  • Nutrition impact
  • Social economic impact

Winners

Babajide Oluwase (Ecotutu Limited)

“The NutriPitch programme provided me an opportunity to refresh on the important knowledge needed to build and scale my company. I benefitted from the trainings, specifically the topic on disruptive innovation to ensure food safety. I also connected with other businesses in the nutrition value chain. The funding support from emerging 1st place winner was used to boost our product marketing and distribution. In turn, we have increased Ecotutu's brand awareness and sales conversion significantly in 3 months!”
Kafilat Adedeji (Ufarmy Organics)

“Some of our product branding and packaging labelling has taken on a completely new and better look as a result of the bootcamp training. Also, I emerged as 2nd place winner and the funding provided covered 60% of expenses used in securing a space that serves as our mushrooms and organic food production and processing laboratory, store, office and training space. We were also able to acquire equipment such as humidifier, 3D printer and dehydrator. Thank you NutriPitch!”
Folashade Babatunde (Poisera Nutrition)

“The pitching process helped me gain more clarity about my business. Now, we're working on a business model that would allow us to leverage technology and upgrade the business to deliver telenutrition services to expand our client base and introduce new products and services. Also, emerging among the top 3 winners gave my business a boost of confidence and affirmed that our services are highly required to support our clients' health in this pandemic period. The grant we received provided me with funds to grow my team with two staff, and to create educational and promotional content to attract potential clients and promote our brand. Since the competition, our monthly sales have increased by 10%!”
Fatimah Ogunbunmi (Fettle Hospitality Services)

Fatimah is the Founder of Fettle Hospitality Services, a healthy food and beverage company that promotes healthy lifestyles through natural beverages made from fruits and vegetables.
Elizabeth Oladepo (07 Foods)

With the establishment of 07 Foods, Elizabeth partners with smallholder farmers to eliminate food poisoning caused by adulteration and cross-contamination of food produce, as well as reduce environmental degradation resulting from the burning of crops residue by converting them into livestock feeds.