---
title: "NITDA Builders Festival Awards N7.5m To Top Startups"
description: "NITDA awarded N7.5 million in prizes to winners of its maiden Builders Festival, held at the DNICE closing ceremony in Abuja."
canonical_url: "https://liners.com/news/nitda-builders-festival-awards-n7-5m-startups"
markdown_url: "https://liners.com/news/nitda-builders-festival-awards-n7-5m-startups.md"
type: "article"
language: "en"
published_at: "2026-11-12T18:47:17.440Z"
updated_at: "2026-11-12T18:47:19.699Z"
---

# NITDA Builders Festival Awards N7.5m To Top Startups

NITDA awarded N7.5 million in prizes to winners of its maiden Builders Festival, held at the DNICE closing ceremony in Abuja.

## Breadcrumbs

- [News](/news)
- [NITDA Builders Festival Awards N7.5m To Top Startups](/news/nitda-builders-festival-awards-n7-5m-startups)

## Related articles

- [Chekkit ChekTrace Targets Supply Chain Visibility In Nigeria](/news/chekkit-chektrace-supply-chain-visibility-nigeria)
- [Dala Studio Create-thon Names Nine Winners At CANEX](/news/dala-studio-canex-create-thon-2026-nine-winners)
- [Bluebulb Calls For Nigeria Financial Firms To Share Fraud Data](/news/bluebulb-nigeria-financial-industry-fraud-intelligence-sharing)

## Content

## In Short
NITDA handed out N7.5 million in cash prizes to startups at its maiden Builders Festival.

Kwari E-Market won N3 million. VarsityScape came second with N2.5 million, and [Chekkit](/chekkit) placed third with N2 million.

## What Happened: How NITDA Ran The Builders Festival
The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, organised the Builders Festival and announced the winners at the closing ceremony of the Digital Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition in Abuja.

Kwari E-Market, a Kano-based digital commerce platform, won the grand prize of N3 million. VarsityScape, a Lagos-based educational technology startup, received N2.5 million for second place. Chekkit, described as a platform that combats counterfeit products, received N2 million for third.

The event had a theme, “Driving Nigeria’s Digital Future: Secure, Intelligent and Inclusive Systems”.

About 30 startups participated in the festival. NITDA said they were selected from more than 1,388 applications. The other participating startups received N150,000 each.

NITDA’s Director of Special Duties, Dr Aristotle Onumo, said the initiative used a problem-driven approach, meaning NITDA sourced challenges from corporate organisations and invited startups to build solutions.

## Why It Matters
NITDA said the festival was designed to connect startups with investors, potential customers and corporate organisations looking for technology-based solutions.

For the winners, the cash prizes come with visibility at a national industry event.

The problem-driven setup also pushes startups to build against clear demand, rather than creating products without confirming who will buy them.

## Sources and products

- [Galaxy Television](https://www.galaxytvonline.com/news/technology/nitda-rewards-top-startups-with-n7-5m)
- [Chekkit](/chekkit)

## Related pages

- [Startups & Ecosystem](/news)

## Access and citation

- [Canonical HTML page](https://liners.com/news/nitda-builders-festival-awards-n7-5m-startups)
- [Markdown route index](/sitemap.md)
- [Agent access guide](/llms.txt)