By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Enactus Nigeria will hold its 2026 National Competition, bringing together student teams from tertiary institutions across the country to showcase and defend their community projects before business executives, industry experts and development leaders.
The Country Director of Enactus Nigeria, Michael Ajayi, disclosed this in a statement, noting that this year’s edition, themed Re-Imagining Transformation, is scheduled for Thursday, 13 August, 2026, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said the winning university team would represent Nigeria at the 2026 Enactus World Cup in Brazil, with the competition also providing an avenue for identifying promising student innovations for investment, scaling and commercialisation.
Ajayi said the competition remains a major component of Enactus Nigeria’s programme, through which student teams work in multidisciplinary groups to identify community needs, develop innovative solutions, mobilise resources and implement projects that create measurable social and economic impact.
He stressed that outstanding innovations showcased at the competition should not end as mere entries but should evolve into businesses capable of creating jobs, generating wealth and improving lives.
He said the organisation’s long-term impact lay in developing Nigerian students into responsible future leaders, an objective he said the National Competition was designed to advance by exposing students to real-world evaluation from business executives and development experts.
The disclosure comes against the backdrop of growing debate among Nigerian youths on the relevance of formal education to wealth creation and success.
Ajayi said while entrepreneurial success could be achieved through different pathways, the increasing perception that education was no longer important, driven by a few exceptional success stories, could undermine investment in human capital and the development of skilled professionals, entrepreneurs and responsible leaders.
He explained that Enactus Nigeria’s approach combines education with innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, discipline and problem-solving to equip students with practical skills for addressing social, economic and environmental challenges, an approach the National Competition is designed to test and celebrate.
As preparations intensify for the event, Ajayi expressed appreciation to the organisations that have supported Enactus Nigeria’s mission over the years through funding, mentorship, technical expertise and strategic partnerships.
He urged investors, development finance institutions, corporate organisations, philanthropic foundations and strategic partners to support the transformation of promising student innovations showcased at the competition into sustainable enterprises capable of creating jobs and improving livelihoods.
He acknowledged the contributions of partners and sponsors expected to support the 2026 competition, including KPMG, SC Johnson, Chevron Nigeria, Schneider Electric, Sahara Group, Unilever, Guaranty Trust Bank, FirstBank, First City Monument Bank, Sahara Foundation, LEKOIL, Coca-Cola Nigeria, the United States Embassy in Abuja, the United States Consulate General in Lagos, Sterling Bank, Interswitch, First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited, Sovereign Trust, the Nigeria Society of Engineers, African Capital Alliance Foundation, Verve, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, and Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, among several others.
