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Agrolens Technologies of Sunflower School, Kano State, has emerged winner of Junior Achievement Nigeria’s (JAN) 2026 National Company of the Year (NCOY) Competition, earning a US$250 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa, to represent Nigeria at the African Company of the Year (ACOY) Competition.
The winning team, comprising Fadillah Abdulsalam, Ruqayya Jallo, Hayfa Mukhtar and Maryam Butu, developed AgroLens AI, a free, artificial intelligence-powered mobile platform designed to help farmers make informed agricultural decisions. The platform integrates crop disease and pest detection, treatment recommendations, real-time market price information, connections to buyers and access to agricultural financing resources.
Designed to make agricultural information more accessible, AgroLens AI supports English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin. Its voice-enabled features are intended to serve farmers who have limited literacy or prefer speaking to typing. By bringing crop health guidance, market intelligence and financing connections together, the platform seeks to address multiple challenges facing farmers through a single, accessible solution.
The winners were announced at the National Company of the Year Competition and National Stakeholder Convening, held on 21 October 2026, under the theme, “Augmenting Innovation: Equipping Nigeria’s Youth for Entrepreneurship and Livelihoods in a Changing Economy.”
The event convened stakeholders from government, the private sector, education and the development community to explore how entrepreneurship education, digital skills and cross-sector partnerships can expand economic opportunities for young Nigerians.
New Era Company of Community Secondary School, Asokoro, Abuja, placed second, receiving US$150, while Nexora of International School Lagos came third, winning US$100. New Era Company also received the Best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award, accompanied by an additional US$100 prize.
The competition is a key component of Junior Achievement Nigeria’s School-to-Work Educational Transition for Long-Term Youth Fulfilment (SET4LYF) programme, which equips girls with the practical skills, knowledge and experience to transition from school to further education, entrepreneurship and employment.
