MTN Nigeria is increasing its financial commitment to youth-led environmental innovation, raising the prize pool for the 2026 Nigeria PachiPanda Challenge to N10 million as it seeks to attract up to 3,500 applications for scalable solutions to climate and environmental challenges.
The third edition of the competition, themed “Nature Meets Innovation: Unlocking Africa’s Green Economy,” is being positioned as more than a sustainability initiative, with organisers seeking to move promising environmental ideas from competition pitches towards commercially viable ventures.
The overall winner will receive N5 million, while the first and second runners-up will receive N3 million and N2 million respectively, representing a significant increase from the N6 million prize pool in previous editions.
The programme has also expanded its institutional partnership base to include the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria and Deloitte Nigeria, alongside MTN Nigeria.
Tobe Okigbo, chief corporate services and sustainability officer at MTN Nigeria, said environmental responsibility and economic development needed to advance together, particularly for businesses with deep links to the communities in which they operate.
The 2026 competition is targeting Nigerians aged between 18 and 35, with applications expected to reach between 2,500 and 3,500.
Participants can submit solutions across four areas including; climate change, urban resilience, community conservation and pollution.
The programme’s structure this year places greater emphasis on developing the commercial potential of the ideas that emerge.
The Top 100 will be announced on September 18, followed by the Top 25 on October 2 and Top 10 finalists on October 9.
The finalists will then enter a four-day boot camp and pitch programme in Lagos from October 19 to 22, where they will undergo human-centred design sessions intended to strengthen business models, presentation capabilities and the scalability of their solutions. Winners will be announced on October 23.
The involvement of Deloitte Nigeria is expected to reinforce this commercialisation component.
Bernard Orji, chief growth officer at Deloitte West Africa, said the partnership would help innovators test their assumptions, develop commercial confidence and turn promising ideas into ventures capable of scaling.
That focus addresses one of the recurring challenges facing youth innovation programmes: moving from a compelling concept to a business capable of attracting customers, investment and sustained funding.
African pipeline for green innovation
The Nigerian competition feeds into a wider continental programme launched in 2022 as a joint initiative between MTN Zambia and WWF Zambia.
The PachiPanda programme has subsequently expanded to Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Uganda, creating a platform through which national winners can compete at the Africa PachiPanda Finale.
National winners at the continental stage compete for $5,000 in equity-free funding to advance their ventures.
Across the five participating countries, the programme has attracted 3,436 applicants, while 158 finalists have gone through incubation and pitch-development programmes.
Nigeria has emerged as an important part of that pipeline. The 2025 Nigerian edition alone attracted 2,169 submissions, making the target of 2,500 to 3,500 applications for the 2026 edition an effort to broaden participation rather than simply maintain existing interest.
The programme’s expansion also reflects growing efforts by corporates and development institutions to channel young entrepreneurs towards solutions in climate adaptation, conservation and environmental management.
Joseph Onoja, director-general of NCF, said the partnership was designed around the role of young people in developing environmental solutions.
William Tsuma, chief innovation officer at UNDP Nigeria, similarly positioned the programme within the broader development agenda, arguing that young innovators solving practical problems can contribute to inclusive growth and sustainability.
Applications for the 2026 Nigeria PachiPanda Challenge close on August 28, 2026.
