MTN Nigeria has unveiled 20 startups for its new Cloud Accelerator Program, a N100 million initiative designed to nurture Africa’s most promising innovators across fintech, healthtech, agritech, edtech, and cleantech.
The 12-week hybrid program, announced in Lagos, offers entrepreneurs deep integration with MTN’s APIs and cloud infrastructure, mentorship from industry leaders, go-to-market support, and access to Africa’s largest telecoms network. It will culminate in a showcase where participants pitch to investors and potential partners in December.
Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief enterprise business officer at MTN Nigeria, said the initiative signals a bold step in Africa’s digital transformation journey.
“Today is not just another launch. It is the beginning of a bold new chapter in Africa’s digital transformation story. It all began with a dream: to build a world-class data centre and launch MTN Cloud, a solution designed to deliver on world-class capabilities without the usual barriers. Building on that momentum, we made a promise: to create an Accelerator Program that would empower African startups to scale, thrive, and lead globally. And today, we have delivered.
“For too long, our continent has been described as ‘emerging.’ But what we see are markets already bursting with innovation, resilience, and grit. What African entrepreneurs lack is not ideas, but the right environment, partners, and tools to scale globally. And that is exactly what this program provides,” Saint-Nwafor stated.
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Among the selected startups are fintech ventures such as Regxta, which is building AI-powered digital banking for 600 million underserved Africans, and Creditchek, which is using machine learning to strengthen credit assessment and fight fraud.
In healthtech, DoktorConnect, led by Joseph Olowe, is shifting healthcare from reactive to preventive with FDA-certified IoT devices, while MYITURA, founded by Shina Arogundade, is developing integrated digital health ecosystems across the continent.
Sustainability-focused startups include Trashcoin Limited, an eco-fintech platform digitising recycling, and Scrapays Inc., which is decentralising waste recycling and has already reached more than 36,700 households. Agritech participants such as Agrovesto are boosting farmer incomes by up to 60 percent and XChangeBOX is advancing agro-commodity trading and exports.
MTN said the program builds on earlier milestones, including its Tier III data centre launch and MTN Cloud rollout. By combining infrastructure, strategic partnerships, and capital, the company hopes to help African startups scale solutions that address critical challenges in finance, healthcare, sustainability, and food security. The Cloud Accelerator runs from September 6 to December 6, 2025.
