The Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition (PAADC), Nigeria’s largest undergraduate design competition has launched the application season for its fifth edition with the theme: ‘Breaking Barriers to Innovation’.
The organization’s Planning Committee, which announced the commencement of applications on the 28th of July, 2021, declared it would reward three undergraduate start-ups with cash prizes that accrue to 2.5 million naira and also assist in the incubation of those start-ups for a year as it has been actively doing since its inception in 2017.
PAADC sprung from an initiative of the University of Lagos Engineering Society (ULES) to identify, encourage and reward undergraduates proffering solutions to indigenous problems using Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The Competition which owes its name to the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi has received over 1000 applications in the last four editions.
The Chairman of the Planning Committee, Oluwalana Ajayi said: “In the past four years, we have been able to establish ourselves as a brand encouraging creativity and innovation in over 75 tertiary institutions across Nigeria”.
“Our country, Nigeria has been negatively branded with poverty, high rate of unemployment amongst youths, and epileptic infrastructural development. All of these are the things PAADC is trying to solve by organizing a competition that encourages undergraduates to provide solutions to national problems and providing funds for the launch of those start-ups. This solves the problem of unemployment in the long run”.
He stated that PAADC has been able to successfully encourage undergraduates to look into entrepreneurship and has assisted in the development of modern and sustainable solutions to the solutions our country has been battling for decades.
The Deputy Chairman, Oluwatobi Adewale said: “PAADC was designed for undergraduates by undergraduates. We saw the need to encourage tertiary students to push past their limits and create the Nigeria they would like to live in”
“Our theme for the fifth edition encourages applicants to look beyond all the barriers limiting our consumer-based economy and find ways to surmount those barriers”.
Also speaking, The Head of Competition, Body, and Scope, Sheriff Alabi stated: “I was pleased with the launch of the application season. Each year, we have been astounded by the marvelous designs displayed by Nigerian students. I’m looking forward to seeing what ground-breaking innovations would be displayed at the grand finale. We have received some wonderful applications already and are looking forward to receiving more before the deadline of the application season”.
This event, associated with, and supported by notable companies such as; The African Fintech Foundry (AFF), a subsidiary of Access Bank, Kawai Technologies, and Endeavour Nigeria is scheduled to host the grand finale this November in Lagos.
Applications are still open until the 12th of August 2021. To become one of the lucky undergraduates whose teams would be selected to win the cash prizes and incubation opportunities, visit: www.paadc.com , download the application handbook, and get started on your application.
For enquires and sponsorship, kindly contact Oluwalana: 08072951768, Oluwatobi: 08129151789.
