Abuja, Nigeria — 14 August 2026 — Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Youth Development (FMYD), through the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), has partnered with Nigeria-focused growth platform Cascador to launch a pilot programme designed to help young entrepreneurs move from early-stage ideas to investment-ready businesses.
The NiYA × Cascador Founders Program will begin with a cohort of 20 early-stage Nigerian founders, including entrepreneurs who may not yet have formal business registration or an established financial track record.
Over four weeks, participants will receive intensive training focused on business fundamentals, investment readiness and pitch preparation. The programme will combine in-person sessions in Abuja with virtual engagement and one-to-one mentorship.
At the end of the programme, eight of the highest-performing founders will receive non-dilutive funding of up to ₦5 million each from Cascador. They will also receive an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution intended to help them structure, manage and scale their businesses.
The funding and support will be awarded during a Pitch Day organised by NiYA and FMYD.
For the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, the initiative is intended to address a gap between youth skills development and access to practical business opportunities.
“For NiYA, training is only one part of the journey. The real value is in helping young people move from learning to enterprise, from ideas to investable businesses, and from potential to sustainable economic participation,” the Minister said.
The partnership brings together the government’s youth-development infrastructure and Cascador’s experience in preparing founders for capital. NiYA and FMYD will oversee participant sourcing, training and programme delivery, while Cascador will help establish eligibility criteria, support investment readiness, assess participants’ pitches and provide funding to the top-performing founders.
Trish Thomas, CEO of Cascador, said the partnership creates a bridge between entrepreneurship training and access to capital.
“NiYA and FMYD have already shown what real commitment to Nigeria’s youth looks like — the platforms, the reach, the ambition to train millions,” Thomas said. “What we’re building together now is the missing piece, a practical bridge from the ideation stage to real capital-readiness.”
Oyin Solebo, COO of Cascador and former Managing Director of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, said the programme demonstrates how government-led investment readiness initiatives can be combined with private capital.
The pilot is also positioned as an early test of a model that could be expanded beyond the initial cohort. According to the Ministry, the broader objective is to make access to entrepreneurial opportunities less dependent on existing networks or financial history.
“If young founders can be identified early, prepared properly, connected to credible capital and supported to build stronger business systems, then access to opportunity becomes less dependent on background or existing networks,” the Minister said.
The initiative forms part of NiYA’s wider ambition to train and empower 7 million Nigerian youth within two years. All 20 participants who complete the pilot will retain NiYA alumni status and receive priority consideration for future opportunities.
Applications for the programme are scheduled to open on 19 August 2026 through the Nigerian Youth Academy.
Cascador describes itself as a Nigeria-focused platform supporting growth-stage founders building businesses with social impact. Since 2019, the organisation says it has supported 70 companies that have collectively raised more than $125 million. Its flagship Cascador ScaleUp programme provides entrepreneurs with leadership and strategic support, while its Catalytic Fund invests through debt and equity.
The NiYA × Cascador partnership comes as Nigeria continues to focus on entrepreneurship, digital skills and private-sector participation as mechanisms for expanding economic opportunities for its large and growing youth population.
Source: Federal Ministry of Youth Development (FMYD), Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), Cascador — press release, 14 August 2026.
