Nigeria—Young Africa Innovates (YAI)

The Young Africa Innovates (YAI) Programme is designed to empower young Nigerians as solution providers and changemakers, driving socio-economic development through innovation. Implemented across 13 states, YAI identifies, incubates, and scales youth-led solutions tackling Nigeria’s most pressing challenges in sectors such as agriculture, energy, health, commerce, financial inclusion, tourism, and the creative economy.

The programme deliberately targets marginalized innovators, young women, persons with disabilities, and first-time entrepreneurs, ensuring equitable access to resources, mentorship, and markets. By leveraging partnerships with state governments, academia, innovation hubs, and civil society, YAI embeds local ownership and builds resilient innovation ecosystems.

The structured stage-gating process guides innovators from ideation through prototyping and testing to scaling, with tailored mentorship and workshops at every stage. Local delivery teams, comprising experienced facilitators and mentors, provide technical guidance while fostering inclusion and peer-to-peer learning. This approach has created strong state-level innovation pipelines and positioned youth as active contributors to governance, enterprise, and sustainable development.

Under this project, DAI will facilitate the provision of long-term technical support to the selected innovators. Among its responsibilities, DAI will:

• Recruit and coordinate facilitators and support staff;
• Develop the curriculum for workshops, peer-to-peer learning circles, and mentorship sessions;
• Coordinate workshops and residential weeks;
• Segment innovators into stage-gating classes; and
• Monitor and evaluate activities.

Sample Activities

• Stage Gating & Training: Deliver residential training weeks with expert-led workshops on entrepreneurship, problem-solving, business innovation, and market readiness, tailored to innovators’ maturity stages
• Mentorship & Peer Learning: Match innovators with mentors for structured one-on-one sessions, complemented by peer-to-peer learning circles that foster collaboration, reflective practice, and mutual support.
• Stage-Gating Assessments: Use mentor-led reviews and UNDP-designed digital tools to segment innovators into idea, prototype, and market-ready stages for targeted technical and financial support.
• Inclusion Measures: Provide specialized support for persons with disabilities, childcare services for nursing mothers, and local language delivery to ensure accessibility.
• Innovator Showcases: Organize state-level innovation showcases linking youth innovators with ministries, traditional leaders, investors, and private sector partners to accelerate adoption and scaling.
• Ecosystem Strengthening: Recruit and embed local delivery teams (facilitators, mentors, and MEL experts) to institutionalize innovation pipelines within states and sustain capacity beyond the programme lifecycle.