Cascador, a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders, has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development through the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA) to support young entrepreneurs with business training, mentorship and access to funding.
The partnership will run as the NiYA × Cascador Founders Programme, starting with a pilot cohort of 20 early-stage Nigerian founders. The four-week programme will focus on business fundamentals, investment readiness, pitch preparation and one-on-one mentorship.
At the end of the programme, the eight top-performing founders will be eligible to receive up to ₦5 million each in non-dilutive funding from Cascador. They will also receive an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to help them organise and manage their businesses as they grow.
The funding is not guaranteed for every participant. Instead, it will go to the strongest-performing founders after the training and pitch process.
The initiative is aimed at addressing one of the biggest challenges facing young entrepreneurs in Nigeria: the gap between having a business idea or early-stage company and being ready to attract investment.
Many young founders struggle to secure funding because they lack formal business structures, financial records or access to investor networks. The programme is designed to help close some of those gaps by combining practical training with a path to capital.
Minister of Youth Development Ayodele Olawande said the government wants its youth programmes to go beyond training and help young Nigerians turn ideas into sustainable businesses.
For Cascador, the partnership provides an opportunity to connect its support for founders with a broader government effort to develop Nigeria’s next generation of entrepreneurs.
The pilot comes as NiYA works toward a wider ambition to train and empower millions of Nigerian young people over the next two years.
It comes as the government continues to use public and private-sector partnerships to channel capital and support towards startups and young businesses. In November 2025, the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme invested in Ventures Platform’s $64 million first close of its second Pan-African fund.
For the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), however, the goal is to go beyond training young people and help them turn ideas into viable businesses.
“For NiYA, training is only one part of the journey,” said Ayodele Olawande, Minister of Youth Development. “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.”
Applications for the NiYA × Cascador Founders Programme are scheduled to open on August 19, 2026, through the Nigerian Youth Academy platform.