We fund solutions that improve health outcomes, enhance food security, and promote sustainable development.

Grand Challenges Nigeria (GCNg) is a pioneering initiative committed to driving innovation that addresses critical health, food systems, and development challenges across Nigeria.

GCNg belongs to a family of Grand Challenges initiatives across the world which are investing in and fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems.

Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. The Nigeria project will focus on catalysing local research and innovation, funding transformative projects, and building sustainable partnerships to achieve measurable impact.

Our Approach

Innovation: We prioritize cutting-edge, science-driven solutions that are socially contextualized, gender sensitive, and sustainable.

Collaboration: We encourage (and deliberately seek out) innovations borne out of collaborations. We will also deliberately engineer collaborative networks of the innovation teams that we fund. Similarly, we employ a collaborative approach to the governance of the grand challenges project by partnering with government agencies, academic and research institutions, NGOs, and the private sector, we ensure that our initiatives are well-supported and impactful.

Sustainability: We look for projects that are designed not only to solve immediate challenges but also to be scalable, impactful and sustainable over the long term.

Our Mission

The mission of Grand Challenges Nigeria is to convene stakeholders to identify and prioritize urgent challenges and to direct innovation resources toward scalable solutions, thereby ensuring the greatest impact on health and food security for Nigerians.

Our Vision

Our ambition is to establish GCNg as Nigeria’s premier innovation platform for health and food security, delivering breakthrough solutions to critical national challenges. We want to catalyse a thriving home-grown innovation ecosystem that improves public health, food security, and sustainable development outcomes across Nigeria.

Our Values

Impact: We are committed to delivering measurable, positive outcomes in the areas we focus on.
Inclusivity: We ensure that our projects and partnerships reflect the diverse needs and voices of the Nigerian communities that we serve.
Integrity: Transparency, accountability, and ethical practices guide all our actions and decisions.

Abimbola M. Adedeji

Evidence and Impact Manager

I have a background in biostatistics with extensive experience designing and managing complex data systems and designing and implementing Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) frameworks. At Grand Challenges Nigeria I lead the evidence and impact function, establishing rigorous methods to track and evaluate programme results while embedding structured learning processes that drive continuous improvement.

I uphold stringent data-governance standards in my work, ensuring that timely, reliable evidence informs strategic decisions and supports transparent accountability. I am committed to enabling Grand Challenges Nigeria to deliver sustainable, scalable, and evidence-based innovations that strengthen health and food security across Nigeria.

http://linkedin.com/in/abimbola-adedeji

Godwin A. Bamsa

Senior Program Manager

I have a background that cuts across the private sector, government, academia, development and nonprofit and I try to bring the value of these experiences to bear in my approach to my work at GCNg.

A few decades from today, I hope that government officials are quoting our strategic direction as part of their vision as a result of the impact that we have and continue to create. GCNg for me is not just a project, it is a bet on what is possible for Nigeria at scale and in collaboration with partners who will dare.

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Adedotun Owolabi PhD (NED)

Technical and Innovation Manager

With a comprehensive background in Human Nutrition and a specialization in intervention studies focusing on undernutrition, infections, and deprived living conditions in Nigeria, I bring almost a decade of experience in driving innovative solutions across various sectors, including health, agriculture, and sustainability.

I am looking forward to seeing Grand Challenges Nigeria serve as a catalyst for transformative change, positioning Nigeria as a global leader in sustainable development and innovation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adedotun-owolabi

Aminat Oluwatoyin Akinsanya, ACA

Finance and Procurement Manager

As an accountant, I started my career in developmental projects working on sustainable agricultural value chains, and my intent is to leverage all my experiences on key milestones of GCNg

As an outcome of GCNg outputs, I look forward to functional mainstreaming of nutrition outcomes with government, industries, households, and NGOs. GCNg will become a go-to bus stop for learning approaches to nutrition at scale.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aminat-oluwatoyin-akinsanya-nee-ajisegiri-2a3a853a