Photo: CYC Side Dialogue
The third quarter of 2025 was a defining period for CcHUB as we deepened our role as Africa’s leading innovation enabler. Across education, health, and the creative industries, we focused on translating ideas into real-world impact.
Advancing Education Through Technology and Ecosystem Partnerships
Scaling EdTech Adoption Nationwide
Through the 2025 EdTech Festival Series, CcHUB’s Education Practice brought over 2,000 teachers, students, youths, policymakers, and innovators from Abia, Abuja, and Ibadan. The festivals were designed as immersive experiences to show how technology improves teaching outcomes, learning access, and system efficiency.
15 EdTech startups from the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship engaged educators and school leaders. By partnering with local tech ecosystems and education stakeholders in each city, the festivals bridged the gap between innovation and classroom adoption, spotlighting teacher-facing and youth-led solutions built for Nigeria’s realities.
Building Teacher Capacity for the Digital Classroom
During the August holidays, the Teachers Lounge Summer Bootcamp trained 58 teachers from within and beyond the Teachers Lounge community on innovative pedagogies and digital tools. With expert-led sessions in instructional design and online tutoring, participants gained practical skills and clarity on new EdTech career pathways.
The bootcamp also created a testing ground for innovation, as AI Teacha, HiPrep, and Bluesands Academy, all Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship startups, showcased tools designed to improve teaching efficiency and learner outcomes.
Promoting Safe and Responsible Digital Citizenship
In partnership with Meta, CcHUB scaled its SafeOnline initiative, equipping participants in Q3 with digital literacy and online safety skills. The reach spanned students, teachers, young professionals, and senior citizens across Nigeria.
A major highlight was the Parenting Smart in the Digital Age masterclass series, which brought together over 70 parents to address online risks facing children and practical strategies for safeguarding them. The initiative directly tackled misinformation, online harm, and unsafe digital practices by empowering families with knowledge and tools.
Strengthening Health Systems Through Design, Data, and Investment Alignment
Unlocking Public-Private Adoption of Digital Health
At the African Digital Health Summit 2025, CcHUB’s Design for Health (DFH) Practice hosted a stakeholder engagement workshop focused on identifying bottlenecks limiting public-private adoption of digital health solutions. The session enabled frank dialogue between policymakers, innovators, and funders, aligning perspectives on how to move promising solutions into national health systems.
Driving Universal Health Coverage Through Strategic Investment
Under the Investing in Innovation (i3) Program, CcHUB, alongside SCIDaR and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), convened a high-level Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Needs Assessment Workshop in Abuja. The workshop brought together stakeholders across Nigeria’s health ecosystem to align on governance structures, priority needs, and funding strategies required to scale tech-driven healthcare solutions.
CcHUB’s presentation, Unlocking High-Impact Investments in Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Nigeria’s Health Revolution, provided actionable insights into digital health investment opportunities, directly shaping conversations around sustainable financing for Universal Health Coverage.
Regional Health Ecosystem Alignment
In Rwanda, CcHUB’s DFH Practice partnered with Yunik Global to host a Health Innovation Networking Cocktail and HTI Roundtable, convening leaders from ministries of health, NGOs, financiers, and implementing partners. The discussions surfaced critical gaps in workforce capacity, health data visibility, and financing pathways, while validating Phase 1 findings of the Healthcare Transformation Initiative (HTI) and aligning on urgent priorities for system-wide reform.
Accelerating Africa’s Creative and Cultural Industries
Empowering Creators and Storytellers
Through the Entertainment and Media Hubs Program, CcHUB completed multiple skills development initiatives, including the Gender Equity Theology Course in Kenya and Nigeria, and an in-person Scriptwriting Clinic. The Creator Economy Incubator Cohort 2 concluded with four storytellers awarded, two each from Kenya and Nigeria. They were awarded approximately ₦5,000,000 grant by Africa No Filter to bring their visionary storytelling projects to life. These initiatives have helped in recognising excellence and innovation in Africa’s creative sector.
Building Globally Competitive Fashion Brands
The Lagos x Paris Accelerator Demo Day marked the culmination of nearly a year of mentorship and hands-on learning for 10 Nigerian fashion and design brands. From sustainable fashion to accessories, founders pitched to potential funders and industry experts, demonstrating readiness to compete on global stages.
The Fashionomics Africa Accelerator Program also launched with participants from across the continent, equipping emerging fashion entrepreneurs with the skills, networks, and tools needed to scale their businesses beyond local markets.
Growing Innovation Ecosystems Across Africa
Namibia: From Community to Capability
CcHUB Namibia marked two years of ecosystem building, convening developers, entrepreneurs, and enablers around a shared mission of applied innovation. Q3 highlights included the launch of the Dev Junction Series, Seedr Namibia 2.0: AI Edition, and a Generative AI Bootcamp, supporting startups solving challenges in education, healthcare, and the creative industries.
The quarter culminated in Tech and Society Week, a three-day engagement exploring technology’s role in governance, democracy, and citizen participation, hosted with the CcHUB Nigeria team.
Rwanda: Designing for Collaboration
On 28 August 2025, CcHUB unveiled the Design Lab Co-Working Space in Rwanda, bringing together AI professionals, researchers, product managers, startups, and creatives into a purpose-built environment for focused collaboration and innovation.
Nigeria: Mentorship and Cross-Border Collaboration
In Nigeria, CcHUB launched its Community Mentorship Program, pairing 8 mentors with 8 mentees to strengthen leadership capacity, business strategy, and ecosystem collaboration. The quarter also featured a high-level visit from the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board, reinforcing cross-country innovation partnerships between Nigeria, Namibia, and Sierra Leone.
Kenya: Corporate-Startup Partnerships at Scale
Through iHUB Nairobi, CcHUB implemented Spark Accelerator 2.0, powered by Safaricom, M-PESA Africa, and Sumitomo Corporation, with support from AWS and PwC. From over 200 applicants, 10 startups were selected to receive mentorship, funding, and go-to-market support across fintech, creative economy, and SME productivity sectors.
Catalysing Pan-African Innovation and Resilience
CcHUB continued to shape continent-wide conversations through pan-African webinars on AI-powered learning, civic technology showcases, and policy dialogues on digital rights, democracy, and big tech accountability. Our Uninnovation white paper, drawing from work with six universities across three countries, addressed systemic barriers to commercialising academic research and outlined pathways to turn knowledge into economic and social impact.
Supporting Startups in AI, Cleantech, and Emerging Technologies
As a National Partner Executing Entity for GCIP-Nigeria, CcHUB represented Nigeria’s cleantech ecosystem at Cleantech Days 2025 in Istanbul, showcasing the GCIP Nigeria program alumni success, including a global win in the Best Female-Led Innovation category., won by Mrs. Lydia Ekpong Thompson, CEO of Allgreen Ivy Limited; The company produces biodegradable sanitary pads using banana fibre and other agricultural waste by-products. This win reflected the strength of locally grounded acceleration paired with global exposure.
CcHUB also showcased African innovation at GITEX Nigeria 2025, highlighted ecosystem success stories through Founders Connect for EdTech founders, and supported regional innovation through initiatives like the Ilorin Innovation Challenge and Hackathon, where 10 solutions received funding, mentorship, and incubation support.