The Nigerian Oil and Gas industry is set to experience its first ever technology hackathon, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology (NOGTECH) programme, which is aimed at fostering innovations in the oil and gas industry as well as creating a platform for the proliferation of local content. The programme is headlined by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with partnership from Learners Support Consultancy and BrentHub.
The NOGTECH programme aims to address the challenges faced by the nation’s oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors by ideating, developing and prototyping digital technology solutions that solve these pertinent problems. The programme will promote innovation by offering seed funding, business mentorship and incubation to the winning ideas. It will also provide an opportunity to create world-class solutions for operators and service organizations within the industry, and other linkage sectors.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, revealed in a webinar session that “five winning teams will get $10,000 equity-free grants each. They will also get work-space, expert mentors, global partners and unprecedented market access over three-months, ensuring they become commercial and investor-ready.”
Engr. Wabote also made it clear during the webinar session titled “Innovating for the future of Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Industry and its Linkage Sectors.” that submissions into the programme will be scrutinised based on several factors.
”Participants must be a team/company of at least two or more members with at least 75 percent of the founding team as Nigerians. The team/company must be a registered, or intending to register as a profit/business entity. The solution described in response to the challenge must be driven by digital technology – Software, Hardware or both.”
He also disclosed that “the solution must either be at the ideation stage, prototype level or a launched solution that hasn’t gained commercial traction. The team must be available to participate in a three-day hackathon as well as a three-month incubation programme, if selected.”
NCDMB is determined to unearth scalable solutions to the industry’s biggest challenges. Some of the identified problem areas include the rising problem of pipeline vandalism, increase in cyber-physical risk, widening skill gap, supply chain and logistics inefficiency, rising carbon footprint and issues surrounding transparency, accountability and civic engagement. These challenges have been identified by industry professionals and academia as the most pressing issues for digital innovators focusing on the sector.
The NOGTECH programme is set to take place over several weeks with the chosen ideas advancing on a stage by stage basis. The first stage involving the call for submission will last for 30 days in which teams and startups are encouraged to submit their ideas. Shortlisted teams in each of the challenge areas will first be invited to present online to a team of experienced entrepreneurs and industry professionals. The most promising teams will then be selected to participate in an all-expense paid 3-day hackathon. During this time, shortlisted participants will have 72hrs to collaborate and build their prototypes or fine-tune existing prototypes with guidance from industry stakeholders, experts and mentors. At the end of the bootcamp, teams will revalidate their solutions and have the opportunity to pitch to a panel of judges.
Some of judges for NOGTECH include Oluyomi Ojo (Co-founder, Printivo), Timbiri Augustine (NCEC Supervisor, NCDMB), Barr. Nkechinyere Nwachi (Legal Services Directorate, NCDMB) Ahmed Mohammed (Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate, NCDMB), Tayo Bamiduro (Co- Founder, MAX.NG). Key Judges to Highlight. This team of industry experts, legal veterans and technology enthusiasts will select the best ideas going into the next phase based on predetermined criteria which include: relevance of solutions to presented challenges, domain expertise of the founding team, feasibility and scalability of solution, and uniqueness of solution.
The winning five teams will undergo a 3-month incubation program where each team will get a $10,000 equity-free grant, a work-space, expert mentors, global partners and unprecedented market access to the Nation’s oil and gas industry over three-months, ensuring they become commercial and investor-ready. At the end of the incubation, the teams will participate in a showcase day to demonstrate their progress. This showcase will aim to connect them with investors and industry stakeholders where they can further amplify their market access.
In order to participate, innovators are required to register and fill in the application at www.nogtech.ng on or before the submission deadline of July 14, 2020.
About NOGTECH The Nigerian Oil and Gas Technology Hackathon aims to enable local partnership in the technology revolution ongoing in the oil and gas industry and birth new sub-segment activities that create employment opportunities. NOGTech will offer seed funding, business mentorship and incubation to selected ideas, and provide an opportunity to create world-class solutions for operators and service organization within the industry, and other linkage sectors.
About NCDMB The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was established in 2010 by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. NCDMB is vested with the mandate to make procedures that will guide, monitor, coordinate and implement the provisions of the NOGICD Act signed into law on April 22, 2010.
About Learners Support Learners Support Consultancy Company Ltd, is an Education Technology (EdTech) company. Learners Support runs the Student Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) programme, which designs and executes hackathons, provides entrepreneurship education and incubation to help students’ business ideas with high-growth potential launch and grow, create employment opportunities for them while contributing to the economic and social development of their communities and country at large.
