Innovate Africa Foundation gives full scholarships to 450 product managers

More than 450 young product managers and builders across Africa have won full scholarships from the Innovate Africa Foundation (IAF), the group announced after its two-day Inspire Africa Conference in Lagos.

The event, held on October 14 and 15, brought together over 600 people, including founders, business executives, policymakers and technology workers, according to the foundation.

The scholarships are meant to give upcoming product talent hands-on training, coaching from experienced practitioners and contacts in the industry, so they can build products that solve business and economic problems on the continent.

What the money and training cover

IAF said the programme lets newer talent learn beside seasoned professionals, get expert-led coaching and connect with opportunities in fast-growing markets.

The conference itself mixed talks with practical workshops. Speakers included Olu Akanmu of Lagos Business School, product leadership coach Petra Willie and Charity Ibhadon, a global product director at WPP.

A closed-door session for chief product officers and other senior executives was led by Christian Idiodi, a partner at Silicon Valley Product Group. Executives from Nedbank, Absa, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, MTN and Paga took part, discussing how to move from building features to delivering measurable business results and how to spend research and development money more wisely.

Product managers from Visa, Moniepoint, Accion Microfinance and First Bank joined workshops on product strategy, customer-focused design and measuring results. More than 100 founders attended sessions on finding product-market fit and scaling a business.

A Canva workshop showed how artificial intelligence tools can help teams build quick prototypes and test ideas before spending money on full software development.

Representatives of the Mastercard Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and Lagos Business School were also at the event. Paga and Interswitch have backed the conference since 2023.

What happens next

IAF said it will take the conference to four African technology hubs in 2027: Lagos, Cape Town, Nairobi and Casablanca. The foundation said the expanded edition will give technology companies a way to reach new users, help corporates sharpen their product teams, and offer donors a route to fund scholarships and talent development.

For young Nigerians hoping to work in tech, the scholarships and the planned expansion signal more training places and industry connections in the coming year, though the foundation did not say how many of the 450 places went to Nigerians.