The USPF Changemaker Challenge, a national tech competition run by Nigeria’s Universal Service Provision Fund, closes for entries at 11:59 p.m. West Africa Time on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. It offers ₦10 million in cash prizes to teams building tech that helps people in underserved communities, and you do not need a registered business or a finished product to enter.
The short version
Nigeria’s Universal Service Provision Fund is giving ₦10 million in prizes for practical tech ideas that help underserved communities. Entries close Sunday night.
- Entries close at 11:59 p.m. WAT on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, and you apply online through the InnoX platform.
- Teams must have two to five members, all aged 18 or older, who are Nigerian citizens or legal residents living in Nigeria.
- An idea, mockup or early prototype is allowed, and no business registration is required.
- The top three teams win ₦5 million, ₦3 million and ₦2 million, and all six finalists get four weeks of incubation.
- Teams keep 100% ownership of their idea, and each person can only be on one team.
What the USPF Changemaker Challenge is
The Universal Service Provision Fund is the government fund set up to bring phone and internet services to rural and underserved parts of Nigeria. Its Changemaker Challenge asks teams to build ICT solutions, meaning tools that run on phones, computers or the internet, for one of five sectors: agriculture, education, healthcare, clean and affordable energy, and financial inclusion. Each sector has one problem statement on the official Changemaker Challenge website, and your entry has to answer one of them.
Applications opened on Nov. 2, 2026, and the official site lists no entry fee.
Who can apply for the USPF Changemaker Challenge
- Team size: two to five people. Solo entries are not allowed.
- Age: every member must be 18 or older. There is no upper age limit, so a retired teacher and two students can enter together.
- Residence: Nigerian citizens or legal residents living in Nigeria. Members can live in different states.
- Stage: innovation teams and early-stage startups. You can enter with an idea, a design, a mockup, a prototype or a working product.
- Availability: if you are shortlisted, your team must join a virtual regional demo day and, if you go further, an in-person national demo day in Abuja. Up to two people from each finalist team attend in Abuja.
The upshot: the bar to enter is low on paper, but the judging is about whether your solution can work in a real community. The official site says entries are first checked against the rules, then scored with a set selection framework, and its own guidance asks you to show who your solution helps, the problem it addresses and how it can work in a real community.
How the ₦10 million is shared
- First prize: ₦5,000,000.
- Second prize: ₦3,000,000.
- Third prize: ₦2,000,000.
That adds up to the ₦10 million total. All six national finalists, not only the winners, get four weeks of structured incubation and venture support. Teams keep 100% of their intellectual property, so entering does not hand your idea to anyone.
The path to the money has four stages. After entries close, applications are checked and scored. Then 50 teams go to six virtual regional demo days: up to 37 places are set aside so each state and the FCT can be represented, and 13 more go to the highest-scoring teams left nationally. One team from each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones then pitches at the national demo day in Abuja, where the top three are picked.
Because most of the 50 places are shared out by state, the state your team declares as its base of operation matters. Pick the state where your team actually works and where the problem you are solving lives.
How to apply before Sunday night
- Read the five sector pages on the official site and choose the one closest to what your team already knows.
- Read that sector’s problem statement and pick one angle you can explain in plain words.
- Create your team’s account on the InnoX application platform.
- Explain the problem, who it affects, how your solution works and who is on your team. Upload any supporting documents, such as screenshots of a prototype.
- Submit before 11:59 p.m. WAT on Sunday, Nov. 15. InnoX sends an acknowledgement once your entry goes through, so if you do not get one, check before the deadline passes.
A practical tip: do not leave the upload to the last hour. Sunday-night deadlines are when sites slow down, and the official site lists no grace period after 11:59 p.m.
Looking for other ways to build tech skills or follow the rules shaping Nigeria’s tech scene? See our guides to Google’s free Skilling Africa courses, the NCC’s new IMEI check for phones and the Senate bill on fintech oversight.
