Gathering of Fearless African Product Innovators in Lagos for World Product Day 2025
The Innovate Africa Fund's Wicked Labs initiative marked a significant milestone in African product innovation with the inaugural World Product Day Lagos. Held under the theme "Bold Builders Wanted," the event brought together founders, engineers, product managers, designers, and ecosystem enablers to tackle African challenges through product-led execution.
The national-scale rollout of a product serving millions was presented by Moniepoint's team during the event, demonstrating the potential for groundbreaking innovation in the African tech landscape. Future editions of World Product Day Lagos are expected to shape the product ecosystem, with sponsors including Moniepoint, Interswitch, and Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) providing ongoing support.
The Innovate Africa Fund hosted the event, which celebrated and empowered product teams in Nigeria. Inspiring energy and insight were gathered in one space during the symposium, making it the first of its kind in the country.
Interactive sessions included fireside chats, workshops, product demos, and roundtable discussions with companies like Moniepoint, Peerless, and Interswitch. The problem statement developed by Team VeriMed, focusing on improving patient record access across health systems, was named the Best Problem Statement, while AddressMe, an AI-powered addressing and logistics solution, emerged as the Hackathon Winner.
Peerless, a builder of indigenous core banking infrastructure, demonstrated how infrastructure localization can transform financial services delivery. The grand finale of the event showcased solutions from a high-intensity sprint, further highlighting the potential for product-led innovation in Africa.
The Wicked Labs initiative, a first-of-its-kind accelerator platform under the Innovate Africa Fund, is primarily focused on accelerating innovative, scalable solutions to complex challenges in Africa, particularly in industrial and environmental sectors such as water treatment. The initiative aims to expand and deepen its impact by fostering strategic partnerships and systemic change across the continent through product-led, research-backed innovation.
Folakemi Osho, General Manager at HOaQ, stated that AddressMe stood out for its potential to streamline address verification and delivery systems for underserved communities. The Wicked Labs initiative embodies a model of connecting top-tier research with on-the-ground ‘wicked’ problems in emerging economies, aiming to envision and implement desirable futures through stakeholder orchestration.
Looking ahead, Wicked Labs and its partners intend to expand and deepen these pioneering partnerships across Africa and the Middle East. They aim to build on their initial successes to catalyse long-term systemic change through a portfolio of innovation programs that address local industrial, environmental, and social challenges. This includes scaling innovation ecosystems, facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration, and integrating research-driven solutions into key sectors, thereby supporting product-led innovation that is both scalable and sustainable.
Moniepoint has expressed its intention to sponsor World Product Day in 2025, signalling a continued commitment to fostering African product innovation and empowering product teams across the continent. With the success of the inaugural World Product Day Lagos, the future of African product innovation looks bright and promising.
[1] Innovate Africa Fund - Wicked Labs Initiative: https://innovateafricafund.org/wicked-labs/ [2] Wicked Labs and Imperial College London Collaborate on Industrial Wastewater Innovation Program: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/216171/wicked-labs-and-imperial-college-london-collaborate-on-industrial-wastewater-innovation-program/ [3] Mentors’ Gate Development and Innovate Africa Fund Launch First Industrial Wastewater Innovation Program in Egypt: https://mentorsgate.com/press-releases/mentors-gate-development-innovate-africa-fund-launch-first-industrial-wastewater-innovation-program-in-egypt/
- The future of World Product Day, supported by sponsors Moniepoint, Interswitch, and Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), is expected to shape the product ecosystem in Nigeria, fostering African product innovation in various sectors, such as finance, lifestyle, business, and technology.
- AddressMe, an AI-powered addressing and logistics solution, emerged as the Hackathon Winner at World Product Day Lagos, showcasing the potential for groundbreaking technology innovation in Africa, particularly in addressing underserved communities.
