Pitchathon: MTN youth event kicks off today in Aba

…As telecom giant puts up N5 million prize

MTN’s Youth cultural and lifestyle event, The Gathering, will take off today in Aba at the Prime Event Centre, and end tomorrow with a high-stakes Pitchathon designed to spotlight and reward the most promising early-stage founders in the city, offering a total prize pool of ₦5 million.

The competition will award ₦2.5 million to the winning startup, ₦1.5 million to the first runner-up, and ₦1 million to third place, giving young entrepreneurs not just funding, but a direct platform to validate their ideas in front of investors, consumers, and industry stakeholders.

The Aba Pitchathon follows a highly successful Lagos edition of The Gathering on 100, which took place at the National Stadium, Surulere, from April 22 to 26, where eight startups collectively received ₦45 million in seed funding after pitching solutions across fintech, healthtech, agritech, edtech, and creative technology.

At the Lagos edition, Hurpham Africa emerged as the overall winner with ₦15 million in funding support, followed by Coconoto Limited with ₦10 million and Rava Send with ₦5 million. Five other startups such as URI Social, Dulces Jams, Kindly Book, Africa Medical Marketplace, and MyFund, each received ₦3 million, alongside visibility and MTN business ecosystem support.

Organisers say the goal is to deepen access to opportunity across Nigeria by taking The Gathering on 100 beyond Lagos into high-potential commercial hubs like Aba, where entrepreneurship continues to thrive.

Registration is now open via The Gathering’s official website. Entrepreneurs, builders, and early-stage founders in Aba and surrounding cities are encouraged to apply for a chance to pitch live at the event.