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Entries Open for 2025 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector have been encouraged to enter for the 2025 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize for a chance to win $160,000 set aside by the organisers.
Applications for the contest opened today, Thursday, April 3, and will close on Tuesday, June 10, a statement made available to Business Post said.
The competition, in its seventh edition, is for promising young co-founders and founders across Africa who have launched businesses across the continent’s agrifood value chain “from seed to fork”.
Judges will be looking for innovative, scalable, and impact-driven agripreneurs not more than 35 years who have built tech-savvy, sustainable businesses tackling food security, job creation, and equitable economic growth.
Participants must be a citizen of an African Union member country, and must serve as a founder or co-founder of a legally registered venture operating in Africa, which must be registered by June 10, 2025.
In September 2025, GoGettaz finalists will pitch their businesses live on stage in Dakar, Senegal during the annual Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) taking place from August 31, to September 5, 2025.
Two grand prizes of $50,000 each will be awarded to the most outstanding male and female-led agribusinesses. An additional US$60,000 in Impact Awards will recognize businesses excelling in key areas such as technology, innovation, nutrition, food security, improving rural livelihoods, climate resilience, gender equity, natural resource conservation, and job creation.
“I am continually amazed by the ingenuity and determination of the young entrepreneurs we meet through the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition each year.
“Their ability to leverage technology and innovative business models showcases the immense potential of the agrifood sector and the pivotal role of entrepreneurship in sustainable development.
“As we launch the 2025 campaign, we are inspired by the opportunity to empower and support young entrepreneurs who are enhancing job creation, uplifting communities, and nourishing Africa’s growing population,” the chief executive of Yara International and co-founder of GoGettaz, Svein Tore Holsether, stated.
Also, the another co-founder of GoGettaz and chairman of Econet Group, Mr Strive Masiyiwa, said, “Africa’s youth are brimming with creative energy and ideas to solve myriad problems with innovative solutions.
“They aren’t waiting around for the perfect conditions; they are seizing the moment and embracing technology to revolutionize the agrifood industry across the continent,” he noted. “They are launching remarkable ventures, but to ensure they can grow and scale, our youth need the right support, access to capital, skills, and enabling environments to grow their young businesses into multimillion-dollar pan-African and global agribusinesses.
“Our amazing young entrepreneurs deserve both recognition and support, which is why GoGettaz exists.”
The GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition is an integral part of the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF), the world’s premier forum for African agriculture and food systems, bringing together stakeholders to take practical action and share lessons that will empower Africa’s young leaders for food systems transformation.
With the 2025 AFSF theme Africa’s Youth: Leading Collaboration, Innovation and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation, the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize competition is set to empower youth entrepreneurs from across West, Northern, Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa who looking to showcase, grow, and scale, their agrifood businesses.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, has announced that Nigeria will launch a new alphanumeric postcode system on October 1, 2026, with every home expected to have a unique postcode.
Mr Tijani disclosed the development in a video post on X, describing the new system as a more precise and digitally oriented approach to addressing locations across the country.
He said the initiative would mark a significant shift in Nigeria’s postal addressing system by assigning unique postcodes to individual homes.
The initiative marks a major step in Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda. By replacing the outdated numeric-only system, the alphanumeric codes provide a more flexible and scalable framework that can accommodate the country’s rapid urban growth and diverse settlement patterns.
For emphasis, an alphanumeric postcode system is a postal indexing system that uses a combination of both letters (alpha) and numbers (numeric), along with spaces or punctuation, to identify specific geographic locations, streets, or individual buildings for mail delivery.
Unlike purely numeric postcode systems (such as the 5-digit US ZIP Code or 5-digit codes used in some European countries), alphanumeric codes offer a much higher number of unique combinations using fewer total characters. This flexibility allows postal authorities to pinpoint locations with incredible precision, often down to a single side of a street or a specific large building.
“On October 1st 2026 Nigeria’s new Alphanumeric Postcode System goes live,” Mr Tijani said.
“For the first time, every home will be assigned a unique postcode that’s simple, precise and built for a digital future,” he added.
The minister urged Nigerians to prepare to generate their individual postcodes ahead of the launch.
The new system is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s digital addressing infrastructure and improve the identification and location of homes and properties for postal and other location-based services.
The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) as part of broader efforts to modernise the country’s addressing and digital infrastructure.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has been directed to give an account to Nigerians on how the current government has fared since its inception on May 29, 2023.
This directive was given by President Bola Tinubu in a message posted on his verified social media handles on Wednesday.
This coincides with the commencement of campaigns for the 2027 presidential election scheduled for January 16.
According to the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), candidates seeking to become the country’s president are eligible to kick off their campaigns from today, Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
In his message today, Mr Tinubu said, “When we began this journey of reform in 2023, I promised that the difficult decisions we were making would serve the purpose of building an economy that works better for you and a country that is stronger for our children.
“Today, your government presents The Reforms Scorecard. It sets out what our reforms have achieved, what they have cost us, and the greater costs and harms we have prevented by acting when we did.
“I have therefore directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to give an account to Nigerians, to explain the numbers, the choices we have made, the progress recorded, and the work that remains.
“You deserve to see the numbers. You deserve to know what has changed and what these reforms mean for you, your family, your business and our country.
“This is your government. This is your country. This is our account to you.”
Shortly after he took the oath of office over three years ago, President Tinubu declared that subsidies on petroleum products were gone. He later approved foreign exchange (FX) reforms, which devalued the Nigerian Naira, shooting from about N800 per Dollar to nearly N2,000 per Dollar. However, it is currently slightly above N1,340 per Dollar in the official market.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE) Limited are advancing discussions on the development of deepwater assets estimated to hold 500 million barrels of oil reserves.
The development followed a meeting between the chief executive of the state oil company, Mr Bayo Ojulari, and Agip’s Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Maurizio Pinna, in Abuja.
The talks focused on ongoing work on deepwater acreage jointly held by NNPC, NAE and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) as well as plans to bring the associated resources into production.
According to NNPC, the acreage comprises the Zabazaba and Etan deepwater fields, with estimated reserves of about 500 million barrels.
The fields are located in Nigeria’s deepwater terrain and are considered significant to the country’s efforts to expand its upstream oil production base, particularly as operators seek to advance projects capable of delivering additional barrels over the medium to long term.
While details of the expected production timeline were not disclosed, the meeting underscores renewed industry focus on unlocking Nigeria’s deepwater resources and growing crude oil production.
The acreage comprises licences converted from OPL 245 and is operated by NAE in partnership with NNPC Limited and SNEPCo.
Mr Ojulari and Mr Pinna also reviewed the work currently underway on the assets and the expected production outlook, with the discussions centred on advancing deepwater development.
The engagement comes amid renewed efforts to attract investment into Nigeria’s offshore petroleum resources and increase national oil production.
