Applications are open for the MTN Africa PachiPanda Challenge 2026, an innovation competition designed to support young Africans and youth-led businesses developing practical solutions to environmental and sustainability challenges.
The initiative is a partnership between MTN and WWF, with country-level partners supporting the challenge. It aims to build a pipeline of African green enterprises using innovation and digital solutions to address environmental problems.
MTN Africa PachiPanda Challenge Summary
- Host: MTN
- Eligible Countries: African Countries
- Reward: $5,000
- No IELTS Required
MTN Africa PachiPanda Challenge Details:
The Africa PachiPanda Challenge, a joint effort by MTN and WWF to inspire and support innovative solutions addressing pressing environmental challenges across the continent.
This program aligns with WWF’s global goals, its Africa Strategy, and its established practices. It also adds significant value to the Mobilising More for Climate (MM4C) Programme.
Specifically, the challenge contributes to achieving WWF’s core objectives of zero habitat loss, preventing species extinction, and promoting healthy populations.
Furthermore, WWF’s Africa Strategy, titled “Making Nature Count,” aims to ensure that the value of Africa’s natural capital is fully integrated into decision-making by governments, corporations, financial institutions, and society.
Beyond the national prizes, the broader Africa PachiPanda Challenge is designed to help promising youth-led ventures develop and scale their environmental solutions.
Who Can Apply?
For the Africa PachiPanda Challenge, applicants must:
- Be 18–35 years old
- Reside in Africa
- Apply individually or as a team of up to three members
- Be an entrepreneur, innovator or youth-led SME
- Have an early-stage or idea-stage solution addressing an environmental challenge.
Eligibility Requirements for MTN Africa Challenge 2024
To be considered for the MTN Africa Challenge 2024, applicants must be:
- young people (16 – 35 years),
- African
- youth led SME’s, entrepreneurs, individuals, and organizations that work towards sustainable development in participating countries and employees in these sectors and are looking for ways to make their business sustainable.
Eligibility:
- The Challenge is open to individuals or teams residing in the participating country. • Participants may be of any age provided they have reached the legal age of majority in their jurisdiction or have obtained parental or guardian consent.
- Employees of the organizing committee, judges, sponsors, and their immediate families are not eligible to participate.
- The project must be carried out in the participating country and it needs to be in line with the mission and goals of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Country Office and respective MTN OPCO and/or Foundation.
- The application must concern an innovative project that boosts nature conservation in a contemporary way.
- The application ought to have concrete and measurable results, SMART goals and high communicative value to increase the chances of approval.
Participating countries for 2024: Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon and Uganda.
Benefits of 2024 MTN Africa PachiPanda Challenge
- The teams will then have the opportunity to pitch their solutions to a selected panel of industry experts, with the winning teams walking away with prizes valued at 5000 USD and advancing to stage 2 – the Pan-African contest, where they compete in the final.
- The winning solutions from the challenge will be implemented to address the pressing environmental challenges in the respective countries. This will contribute to the long-term sustainability of these communities and the African continent as a whole.
MTN Africa Challenge Details
- The challenge will take place in two phases. During phase one, applications in each country will be shortlisted.
- Following this, selected participants will form teams of up to three members and undergo a human-centred design process during a 5-day sprint week.
- This process will involve business modelling, customer identification, and developing unique value propositions.
Application Deadline: August 28, 2026.
METHOD OF APPLICATION
Interested and Qualified candidates should use link below to Apply
CLICK HERE TO APPLY
Why You Should Apply
If you’re a young Nigerian innovator working on waste management, recycling, pollution reduction or another sustainability solution, this is an opportunity to move your idea beyond the concept stage.
The challenge combines prize funding, mentorship, business support and continental exposure, giving promising innovators an opportunity to develop solutions that can have measurable environmental and social impact
