Zenith Bank Plc in partnership with Beyond Limits has launched Zenith Bank Zecathon 4.0 for early-stage Nigerian startups.
It is a pitch competition tagged Zenith Bank Startup Pitch Competition where winners will share N77,500,000.
Winners in the pitch competition are categorized into four: 1st place will be given twenty five million naira (N25,000,000)
2nd place will be given twenty million naira ( 20,000,000)
3rd place will be given fifteen million naira (15,000,000) while ten selected finalists will be given two million naira (2,000,000) each for their startup growth.
Application starts on November 8th 2024 and ends on November 15th 2024.
The pitch competition commences on November 21st 2025 for those that would be shortlisted and invited to participate in the competition to share N77,500,000.
According to Beyond Limits which is Zenith Bank’s partner company for the pitch competition, shortlisted finalists will be announced on November 18th 2024.
Phase two of the competition will be an incubation period, during which ten selected finalists will move into an intensive incubation program to refine their business models and strategies for scaling their startups. The incubation period will last for six weeks which is December 2024 – February 2024.
The benefits of participating in the pitch competition entails cash prizes for winners, investor access & mentorship, Strategic resources, networking & exposure and growth opportunities.
The application process has three categories which are straightforward.
In the first category is the capture of the applicants data such as full name, contacts, biography of the participant/applicants and other details necessary.
The second category is the startup information such as name of the business/startup name which must be registered in Nigeria, year of the startup business registration/ incorporation, sector of operation and other necessary information
The third stage is the financial stage of the business, which includes how much the business makes monthly, annually, and during the startup stage (pre-launch, MVP, launched, beta, scale, etc.). It also asks if the startup has raised money, what the source of business funding is, and other questions.
Before the end of the application, the applicant submits a pitch deck that is not more than 10MB in pdf.
Interested applicants are told to visit www.zenithbank.com/Zecathon4.html to commence their application immediately.