For businesses operating in Nigeria, energy is not a utility — it is a daily operational problem. Grid instability has pushed commercial operators to build their own patchwork power infrastructure: diesel generators, rooftop solar, inverters, battery banks. PowerLabs is betting that the answer is not more hardware, but smarter software.

The funding forms part of the foundation’s 2026 entrepreneurship programme unveiled in Abuja, Nigeria, where 3,200 startups drawn from all 54 African countries were selected from more than 265,000 applicants to receive seed funding, training and mentorship.

The financing, approved on March 25, takes the form of a repayable grant through the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). The Nordic Development Fund is providing matching co-financing, bringing the total size of the mechanism to $11.3 million.

The programme is designed to leverage Schneider Electric’s strengths in electrification, automation and digitalisation to guide customers and partners through a fast-changing energy and technology landscape.