Artificial intelligence is no longer a buzzword in Nigeria’s startup ecosystem; it is becoming a competitive moat. Grooming Endowment Trust’s GETAccelerated 2025 (Cohort 4) is fully embracing this reality, offering a 16-week program designed to transform early-stage ventures into AI-powered businesses with scalable and measurable impact.
The AI Mandate
Unlike traditional accelerators that offer capital and mentorship as stimulants for growth, Cohort 4 is challenging founders to explore atypical pathways to growth by embedding AI into their solutions to address socio-economic challenges from day one. The program begins with a three-day bootcamp and hackathon where teams co-create AI-driven prototypes for an impact case before entering a 12-week digital acceleration journey focused on validation, traction, and growth.
Each selected startup receives ₦1 million in non-equity funding upfront and competes for ₦9 million more at the final Showcase and Demo Day. This funding structure ensures founders can focus on building rather than giving up equity too early.
Why This Matters Now
Nigeria is sitting on a wave of AI opportunity. With the country’s developer population crossing 120,000 active software engineers and major players like Google and Microsoft investing in local AI capacity, programs like GETAccelerated could define which startups lead the next decade of innovation.
AI isn’t just a trend; it is emerging as a catalyst for solving some of Nigeria’s most stubborn challenges at scale, from healthcare access to food security.
Beyond Funding: Creating Systemic Impact
The program isn’t just about AI for AI’s sake. It focuses on ventures solving for education, health, agriculture, finance, climate, and MSME solutions, areas with the highest potential for systemic change. The goal is to create startups that dismantle barriers, unlock new markets, and deliver affordable, context-relevant products to underserved communities.
GETAccelerated has already supported over 30 startups, including Regxta, MyFoodAngels, 8mgHealth, EVet, and Agrodemy, many of which have gone on to raise follow-on funding and expand nationally. Cohort 4 aims to replicate and scale that success.
A Call to Founders
If you are building a startup with an MVP, early traction, and a mission to transform Nigeria’s economy, this is your chance to validate your model, adopt AI, and join a network of founders shaping the country’s innovation future.
Applications close: 12 October 2025, 12:00 PM WAT
Apply here
