The National Association of Nigerian Students has turned entrepreneurship into a central part of its latest student-welfare push, opening applications for a national programme that will give Nigerian student founders a route to funding, mentorship and investor exposure.
SEE HOW TO APPLY BELOW
The NANSInnovate 2026 programme is open to Nigerian students in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education who have either an existing business or a business idea. The initiative will culminate in a pitch competition involving 20 finalists, according to details released by NANS.
The programme comes as the student body, under newly elected president Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, has expanded its activities beyond traditional protests and education advocacy into scholarships, student finance and employment-related initiatives.
Akinteye was elected NANS president in May 2026 after serving as the organisation’s Senate President, succeeding Olushola Oladoja. His administration has since made student financial support a recurring part of its public agenda.
From student politics to economic support
NANS has historically been better known for collective action over university fees, education policy and student rights than for operating entrepreneurship programmes.
That role has broadened in recent years. The association has pursued engagement with the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, scholarship opportunities and other forms of financial support, reflecting the increasingly expensive cost of remaining in tertiary education in Nigeria. NANS said in July that it had also been pressing the Federal Scholarship Board over delayed scholarship payments.
NANS has also sought private-sector partnerships for scholarships and jobs for students and graduates, including an appeal to Tantita Security Services in June for greater employment and scholarship opportunities.
NANSInnovate fits into that wider shift: rather than treating students only as recipients of education support, the programme is aimed at students already attempting to build businesses.
Who is eligible?
The programme is open to Nigerian citizens currently enrolled in a recognised university, polytechnic or college of education in any of the country’s 36 states or the Federal Capital Territory.
Applicants do not need to have an operating company. They can apply with a business idea they intend to develop.
That distinction potentially widens the pool beyond established student entrepreneurs to students who have identified a commercial problem but have not yet been able to turn the idea into a functioning business.
Applications are divided into four categories:
- Production and manufacturing
- Trading and merchandise
- Services
- Agriculture
Applicants must provide a valid student identity card and submit a business proposal in Microsoft Word format. The proposal must not exceed 10 pages or 5MB and must use Times New Roman, size 12, with single-line spacing.
CAC or SMEDAN registration documents can be submitted where available, but NANS says they are not compulsory.
What happens after the application?
The application is not simply a request for cash.
Students are required to submit a 100-word pitch explaining their business, why it matters and how they intend to use the funding. Successful applicants will then participate in a programme combining learning sessions, networking and mentorship.
The most competitive stage will be the national pitch competition, where the 20 finalists will compete for cash prizes worth millions of naira.
NANS has not specified in the material announcing the programme how the prize money will be divided among the finalists, so applicants should not assume a particular individual award amount.
The programme also gives student entrepreneurs something that a conventional grant can lack: access to people who may provide capital, commercial advice or connections after the competition.
A wider funding problem
The emphasis on student entrepreneurship comes against a broader problem in Nigeria: young people seeking to start businesses often have difficulty accessing formal finance before they have a track record, collateral or substantial revenues.
For a university student, that barrier can be even higher. A promising idea may have little value to a conventional lender if its owner has no assets or established cash flow.
That makes competitions and grant programmes potentially useful as early-stage financing mechanisms. But the size and long-term impact of NANSInnovate will ultimately depend on how much capital reaches businesses, how finalists are selected and whether participants receive support beyond the competition.
Those details are not contained in the programme information currently available.
How Nigerian students can apply
Applications are being made through the NANSInnovate portal at grants.nanshq.org.
Applicants must enter their personal and school information, provide details of their business or proposed venture, select a category and identify whether they are applying with an existing business or a new idea.
They must upload their student ID and business proposal and complete the 100-word pitch.
After submission, the portal generates a unique entry code. NANS advises applicants to save or screenshot the code because it can be used to check the status of an application.
The association says there is no application fee. Students should therefore be wary of anyone requesting money in exchange for admission into the programme.
NANSInnovate is the latest addition to a series of initiatives under Akinteye’s administration that seek to position the association not only as a pressure group for students but also as an intermediary between students and institutions controlling access to finance, scholarships and other opportunities.
For applicants, however, the immediate question is simpler: whether their business idea can survive the pitch.
