Prizes
For each category


Application & Selection Process
The Edves school competition is open to all students in Nigeria. Registration for the competition starts from the 1st of April until the 31st of April.
Every application will be thoroughly evaluated and scored. Selected applications/students will be invited to the semi-final and final rounds of the competition which will be held on each day of the catalyst event which is the 2nd and 3rd of June, 2023 respectively.
Prizes will be presented to the best student and two runner-ups on the last day of the catalyst event.
S1
Registration StageApril 1st - April 30th
S2
Shortlist StageMarch 1st - May 31st
S3
Semi-Final StageJune 2nd
JUDGES

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is a faith-driven investor and entrepreneur. He is passionate about partnering with mission-driven innovators and investors building an African future where prosperity and purpose are within everyone’s reach. He is currently the CEO and General Partner of Future Africa an early-stage venture capital firm with a portfolio of 100 companies collectively worth over $6 billion dollars.
Prior to founding the Fund, he was the founding CEO of Flutterwave, a billion-dollar global payments platform connecting African businesses and individuals to the
global economy. He was also the co-founder of Andela, a billion-dollar business that matches Africa’s top engineering talent to global technology companies.

Zachariah George
Zachariah George is the Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures – Africa’s most prominent and active early-stage VC Fund with a portfolio of 130+ tech ventures across 20+ countries. He is also the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Startupbootcamp AfriTech – the leading multi-corporate backed venture accelerator program in Africa.
A prominent Angel investor in 50+ leading tech startups in Africa including Flutterwave, KudaBank, Mono, Marketforce and several others. He has been featured on the cover of magazines and on CNBC Africa.
In January 2020, he was recognized as one of the Top 4 Most Influential Persons in Technology in Africa by Les Echos (the French equivalent of the Financial Times).
He was formerly the head of Africa Investments for U-Start and an investment banker on Wall Street. Zach has a Master’s degree in Finance & Management from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Rajesh Pasungili Ramakrishnan
Rajesh Pasungili Ramakrishnan is the founder and CEO of Resolute Education. He is a graduate of the University of Pretoria in 2016 with Honors in electronic engineering.
He is an education enthusiast and has taught Mathematics to high school students throughout his college degree.
With this passion for people and education, he endeavored to help better equip students for life after high school and to foster a passion for robotics and programming from a young age by introducing students to industry-relevant skills.

Hakeem Subair
Hakeem Subair is the CEO of 1 Million Teachers Inc, an adjunct professor, and student advisor. These roles have shaped by Hakeem’s passion for applying business principles to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our planet.
A passion that grew out of providing more than just financing to businesses but giving them the tools to enhance their success. A passion that grew into a love for giving children the best chance for reaching their full potential, and increasing the capacity of teachers to help their students to do so.
FAQs
The Edves Student Competition is a competition for students in secondary schools in Nigeria. Judges who are top leaders in the educational sector will evaluate the applications including a voting system to select the best three.
This competition is a new addition to the Edves Catalyst event. A team of three students will send in an application in either of these two tracks: STEM or Entrepreneurship while paying attention to the Edves Catalyst event theme, AUDACIOUS.
A team of two or three students representing a school can send in a pitch application explaining how the knowledge of STEM or Entrepreneurship can be used to achieve one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The best five applications will be selected for a Semi-final Pitch. In the semi-final, three pitches will be selected for the final in each track. At the final stage, the three teams selected will present their pitch, voting will be done, both online and offline, and these three pitches will be evaluated and ranked. Winners will be announced and presented with their gifts on the last day of the conference.
The Edves school competition is open to students in Nigeria. By the 1st of February, schools can begin to register and send in their pitch applications.
The application is due 1st of March, 2023 at 23:59 GMT+1
Judges will use a scorecard to analyze the applications and pitch presentations.
During the Pitch presentation, both a voting system and a jury will be used to select the best three.
Only one student can make one application in either of the two tracks while a school can have up to 3 entries.
To apply, interested schools should follow this link: https://catalyst.edves.net/competition to register and upload the pitch application.
Each pitch should describe the application of either STEM or Entrepreneurship to achieving one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Each pitch deck should not be more than 15 slides and samples of pitch decks the students can use in both areas can be downloaded in the above link.
Unfortunately, no, we cannot disclose the judges who will be evaluating the applications.
Besides the prizes that will be received by the top three applicants, they will also receive the following:
- A complimentary ticket and registration to be part of the Edves Catalyst event.
- Exposure to a global audience, offline and online.
- The school from which the winners emerge and who are yet to be onboarded with Edves, will be given a free demo session on the operations of Edves basic.
- The opportunity to learn and network.
The Edves Catalyst Conference is an annual Edtech and Non-Edtech Conference for K-12 leaders aimed at bringing together over 5000 Educators, Administrators, School owners, Parents, and other stakeholders together.
It is both an online and offline conference with access across Africa.
It is a two-day event where actionable ways to enhance the quality of education are discussed while prioritizing innovative technology.
- Queen’s University, Ontario Canada,
- Girls Rising,
- Jacobs Foundation,
- 1 Million Teachers,
- Lagos Business School,
- UNESCO,
- UNICEF,
- Resolute Robotics,
- MTN PLC, and
- Airtel
Every year, the conference is planned for the first weekend in June. For this year, the conference is planned for the 2nd and 3rd of June.
Educators, Administrators, School Owners, Parents, and other interested stakeholders can register to attend the conference.
About the Organizers
Edves is an education technology company that serves African K-12 schools by digitizing learning and administration to enable automated deployment of administrative activities and multi-curricular lesson delivery (online and offline) to students from kindergarten to senior secondary school.
As the leading company in EdTech, our vision is to reimagine education and make learning easy by building customer-centric operating system for education through innovative technology solutions.
About Edves Catalyst Event
Every year, Edves organizes an offline and online gathering of Educators and Parents to enhance quality education delivery while prioritizing technology for both short term and long term gains in the continent.
During this event, we invite industry leaders to share their wisdom, experience and expertise on different topics relevant to our community.