By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Nigel Topping, the United Nations’s High Level Champion for COP26, has assured ecopreneurs that Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) is developing an ecosystem of businesses and also funders.
Topping said this on Wednesday when he visited the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) in Lagos where he met with various enterpreneurs and innovators in the clean energy and environment sector.
In a statement, he said, “You need different sources of funding. You need venture funding, you need working capital loans from banks. I think the funding will follow the quality of solutions and the quality of the business cases. You can see this trajectory and it’s just going to grow and grow.”
Topping also added, “I don’t think there’s any conflict or trade-off between business and environment. We have to solve the climate crisis.
“The real way to make money in business is to address societal needs. We need food, we need energy, we need solutions to avoid food wastage, we need to transport and deliver food and products. These are all societal needs and if you meet them in a way that doesn’t destroy the environment, we get double benefits.
Mr. Bankole Oloruntoba, CEO of the Nigerian Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC), said the NCIC “tries to cut allies and grow the green economy of Nigeria in renewable energy, circular economy, agriculture and also water.
