The Federal Ministry of Youth Development (FMYD), through the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), has partnered with Cascador, a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders, to support and fund the next generation of Nigerian youth entrepreneurs.
The partnership was announced on International Youth Day 2026, whose global theme, “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations”, calls on institutions to bridge the gap between young people’s circumstances and their opportunities.
Under the NiYA × Cascador Founders Program, an initial cohort of 20 early-stage Nigerian youth founders will undergo an intensive four-week programme focused on business fundamentals, investment readiness and pitch preparation.
Many of the participating founders are expected to have little or no formal business registration or financial track record.
At the end of the programme, the eight top-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 to help structure, manage and scale their business operations.
The funding and support will be awarded at a NiYA/FMYD-organised Pitch Day.
The pilot represents an early step towards NiYA’s wider ambition of training and empowering seven million Nigerian youths within two years.
“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 partnership with Cascador strengthens that pathway by combining business preparation with access to capital, particularly for young founders who may not yet have the formal structures or financial history that traditional funding often requires,” the Minister said.
The programme combines the reach of NiYA and FMYD across Nigeria’s youth ecosystem with Cascador’s experience in preparing founders for access to capital.
NiYA and FMYD will oversee founder sourcing, training and day-to-day programme delivery, while Cascador will help establish eligibility criteria, support investment readiness, judge participants’ pitches and provide funding to the top-performing founders.
"NiYA and FMYD have already shown what real commitment to Nigeria's youth looks like — the platforms, the reach, the ambition to train millions. What we're building together now is the missing piece, a practical bridge from the ideation stage to real capital-readiness. When a Ministry so dedicated to its young people asked Cascador to help build that bridge, it was an easy decision," said Trish Thomas, CEO of Cascador.
Oyin Solebo, COO of Cascador and former Managing Director of the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator, said the partnership demonstrated a new approach to deploying capital to young entrepreneurs.
"This is what innovative capital deployment looks like: a government building real investment readiness at scale, and a partner meeting that foundational work with non-dilutive funding at exactly the moment it's needed. Partnerships like this open doors that neither of us could open alone."
The Minister for Youth also spoke on the significance of the pilot, saying, “The pilot is deliberately designed to test a model that can go beyond one cohort. 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. That is the larger objective: to build a youth entrepreneurship ecosystem in which readiness, ideas and execution can increasingly determine who gets the opportunity to grow."
The pilot will be delivered in person in Abuja, with virtual touchpoints and one-to-one mentorship. All 20 graduates will retain NiYA alumni status and receive priority consideration for future opportunities.
Applications for the programme will open on Wednesday, 19 August 2026.
The Nigerian Youth Academy is a flagship digital platform of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development designed to give Nigerian youths access to learning, skills development, opportunities, resources and programmes that support their personal and professional growth.
Through a digital-first approach, NiYA connects young Nigerians with training, entrepreneurship support, career opportunities, grants, mentorship and other interventions, creating a more accessible and coordinated youth development ecosystem.
The Federal Ministry of Youth Development provides strategic leadership and a framework for policies, programmes and initiatives aimed at empowering young Nigerians and strengthening their participation in national development. Its work spans skills development, entrepreneurship, employment, innovation, digital transformation, leadership and economic participation.
Cascador is a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders building businesses that make an impact. Through Cascador ScaleUp, its flagship programme, the organisation works with a select cohort of entrepreneurs to strengthen their leadership and sharpen their strategy in preparation for successful scaling.
ScaleUp alumni gain access to the Catalytic Fund, which deploys up to $5 million in capital annually through a combination of debt and equity investments.
The NiYA-Cascador partnership is expected to provide young Nigerian entrepreneurs with a pathway that combines training, investment readiness, business support and access to non-dilutive capital, potentially reducing some of the barriers faced by early-stage founders seeking to grow their businesses.
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