Orange Corners: a free business programme in Lagos

This guide is for a Nigerian aged 18 to 35 who runs a young business in Lagos and wants training, a mentor and money to test her product, without paying anybody and without leaving Nigeria. Orange Corners Nigeria is a free six-month business programme for young people who run their own business (an incubation programme), set up by the Dutch government and run in Lagos by FATE Foundation, a Nigerian organisation that helps Nigerians start, grow and scale their businesses. The criteria name no trade: what counts is a new idea you have already tested with real customers, that answers a problem people have in Nigeria. Cohort 16, the group it is choosing now, takes applications from Lagos businesses until 30 November 2026. This guide takes you from the business you already run to your first day in the cohort and the pitch at its end (the short talk where you present your business to the judges), one stage at a time: what you do now, where, what you need, what it costs, how long it takes, and what comes next. Start with "Where the window stands today". The table under it, "From today", tells you what you can still finish from the day you open this guide. Then read "The info session, what the judges look for and how to apply", which holds the three things most people come for, and read Part 1 once from top to bottom. Every date, euro amount and rule the programme sets comes from its own pages. Updated on 28 October 2026.

Applying costs you nothing, and there is no visa, no travel abroad and no agent anywhere in this guide. The money, from the programme's fund page: every founder in the cohort can get up to €4,000 (about ₦6 million) in all over the six months, as a voucher to build and test your product and a monthly allowance; at the end, a jury picks five founders for between €10,000 and €35,000 each (about ₦15 million to ₦52.4 million), part grant and part loan you pay back. The incubation page's "up to €30,000" is not what each founder gets. Orange Corners chooses its founders, and nobody can promise you a place, the allowance or the seed money.

Where the window stands today

On 28 October 2026 the window for Cohort 16 in Lagos is open. The programme's page reads "Now Accepting for Cohort 16!", and says applications open on 1 September 2026 and close on 30 November 2026. It prints no hour and no time zone for the close, so treat the end of 29 November 2026, Nigerian time, as your last safe day.

If you are reading this after 30 November 2026, this window has closed. If you submitted in time, go to Stage 5 (the wait). If you did not, go to Part 8, If the window has closed.

From today: what you can still finish

Count the days from today to 30 November 2026 and find your row. Then find the column for what you already hold. The work only you can do is the writing: what your business does, for whom, and the proof that people want it. The account takes minutes.

If your business runs mainly outside Lagos, you are over 35, or the idea you would apply with is more than two years old, this cohort is not yours: read Check that you can start in Part 1 first.

The info session, what the judges look for and how to apply

These are the three things this route turns on. Each comes from the programme's own pages.

The info session

If 30 October 2026 has passed. The last info session was on 30 October 2026; read the incubation page from top to bottom before you start the form. The page prints no recording of either session and no further session. Then send the message in Part 1 for a question no page answers.

If 30 October 2026 is still ahead of you, read on.

Orange Corners Nigeria runs free online information sessions for Cohort 16 on Zoom, an online meeting app. The programme's page lists two: "Session 1 September 30, 2026 · 4:00 PM" and "Session 2 October 30, 2026 · 4:00 PM", each with a "Register Now" button. The page prints no time zone.

Register. On the incubation page (Orange Corners Nigeria, Incubation Programme, opens in a new tab), scroll to "Join a Cohort 16 Information Session" and press "Register Now" under Session 2. It opens Zoom's registration page, "OCN 16 Information session", which asks only your first name, last name and email address. Keep what Zoom gives you after you register: it is how you join.

The hour. Plan for 4:00 PM Nigerian time on 30 October 2026, the hour the programme's page prints. Zoom's own registration page for Session 2 shows "Oct 30, 2026 04:00 AM" in Nigerian time, twelve hours earlier. If Zoom shows you 4:00 AM when you register, call the programme on 09060240380 or write to orangecorners@fatefoundation.org the same day, and ask: "Is the 30 October information session at 4:00 PM or at 4:00 AM, Nigerian time?" Until they answer, go by the programme's page and open the Zoom link at 4:00 PM. If the meeting has not opened by 4:15 PM, write to orangecorners@fatefoundation.org the same evening with your name and the session date. The hour on the day: we cannot tell yet.

Go with three questions written down. The session is where you can ask what no page answers: what the Cohort 16 form asks you to write and upload, whether your idea counts as two years old or younger (from the day you first sold it or from the day you registered the business), and how many days of the six months are at the Lagos Hub.

What the judges look for

First, the lines you must meet. The programme's FAQ, under "What are the selection criteria?", asks that you:

• run a business whose main work is in Lagos ("core business operations in Lagos, Nigeria");
• are between 18 and 35 years old;
• have a new business idea you have already tested with real customers or users, no more than two years old ("a validated innovative business concept, not more than 2 years old");
• sell a product or service that answers a problem people have here in Nigeria ("The product or service responds to a local challenge in Nigeria");
• sell a product or service that relates to one of the 17 goals the United Nations set for the world (the Sustainable Development Goals), such as ending poverty, ending hunger, good health, good education, clean water, clean and affordable energy, decent work, and less waste in what people make and use ("The product or service relates to the Sustainable Development Goals"). A tailor who cuts cloth waste, for example, can name the goal her business serves.

Then what they score. The same FAQ says founders "will be selected based on the":

1. How new your idea is ("Innovativeness"): what you do that others around you do not.
2. Whether it can work ("Feasibility"): that you can make it, deliver it and get paid for it with what you have.
3. The good it does ("Social Impact"): who is better off because your business exists.
4. How clear your market is ("Clarity of market"): who buys, how many of them there are, and how you reach them.
5. Whether it can last and grow ("Sustainability & scalability of the business idea"): that it pays for itself and can serve many more people.
6. How able you and your team are ("Competence of the entrepreneur/team"): what you have already done.

So write it like this. Start with the problem people around you have. Say how your product or service solves it. Say who has paid you already, how many, and what they said. Say what the money and the six months would let you test next. A tailor writes about the customers she serves and the cloth she stops wasting; a phone repairer writes about the parts he cannot get and the fix he has built around it; a food seller writes about the meals she sells and the spoilage she cuts. Say only what is true and what you can show: if you are one of the 50, you stand behind every line in front of a jury at the bootcamp.

How to apply

1. Today: make your free account. On the incubation page, opens in a new tab, press "Join Cohort 16 in Lagos". It opens FATE Foundation's application site, which it calls "FATE Foundation's Application Portal" (SOAR). Press "Sign up". It asks your first name, last name, email and a password, or lets you continue with Google. Use an email you read every day: the programme contacts successful applicants by email. Then sign in, go back to the incubation page and press "Join Cohort 16 in Lagos" again to reach the Cohort 16 form. Read every question before you write.
2. Register for the info session, if 30 October 2026 is still ahead (above).
3. Write your answers in your notes app first, using What the judges look for, then paste them into the form, so a network that cuts out does not eat an hour of typing. The form's own questions and the papers it asks you to upload: we cannot tell yet. Open the form on the day you make your account to see them.
4. Submit by 29 November 2026. The page prints "November 30, 2026" and no hour.
5. Watch your email. From the forms, the programme picks 50 people (the "50 selected semi-finalists") and invites them to two compulsory days where a jury decides who joins (the bootcamp: "a compulsory two-day-long bootcamp"). From how they do there, "20 young entrepreneurs will be selected to participate for six months".

Applying is free: "There are no participation fees for the programme." You apply yourself, on the programme's own site. Anybody who asks you for money to "process" your form, to get you into the bootcamp or to "release" the funds is not part of the programme.

Part 1. Before you start

What this is

Orange Corners Nigeria is a six-month programme that takes a young business and helps it grow: "Transform your innovative idea into a thriving business with our 6-month incubation programme." The page lists what you gain:

• Training in running a business ("Enterprise Management Training"): "interactive workshops on strategy, finance, and marketing".
• Guidance for your business, with visits to working companies ("Business Incubation & Advisory"): "tailored guidance and support to scale your venture, including industry visits".
• Money to build and test your product ("Funding Support").
• Mentors and contacts ("Mentorship & Networking"): "Learn from experienced entrepreneurs and connect with local and international markets."

The programme's country page adds: workshops in groups and one to one, coaching and mentoring with a personal development week, an advisory board for your business, meetings and events, and "Access to the incubator space, reduced price for commercial domiciliation" (a place to work at the hub, and a business address for less).

It runs in two places, the Lagos Hub at 16 Town Planning Way, Ilupeju, and the Ogun Hub in Abeokuta. Cohort 16 is the Lagos group. The programme says it is "delivered as a hybrid": some sessions at the hub, some online. How many days a week are in person, and where the bootcamp is held: we cannot tell yet.

The programme's home page shows a card reading "16 Weeks". Its programme page and its application process both say six months, so plan for six months.

The bodies you will deal with

• Orange Corners Nigeria (OCN): the programme. Its site is ocn.fatefoundation.org. "Launched in 2019 by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and implemented by FATE Foundation, the programme empowers young entrepreneurs aged 18-35 to build sustainable ventures."
• FATE Foundation: the organisation that runs the programme (the pages say FATE Foundation "implemented" it), trains the founders and holds the application site. In its own words it is "Nigeria’s foremost business development organisation", founded in 2000.
• The Dutch government (the Kingdom of the Netherlands): it set the programme up and, with private partners, pays for it. The programme's own words: "an initiative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Lagos". The programme is "overseen by the Netherland Enterprise Agency (NEA)", a Dutch agency.
• The Orange Corners fund (the Orange Corners Innovation Fund, OCIF): the part of the programme that pays the voucher, the allowance and the seed money.
• FATE Foundation's application site (SOAR, at soar.fatefoundation.org): where you make your account and fill the form.
• The jury: the judges, "an expert jury", who pick the 20 at the bootcamp and the five at the final pitch.

You reach the programme at orangecorners@fatefoundation.org, on 09060240380, or at the Lagos Hub, 16 Town Planning Way, Ilupeju, Lagos. Nobody gets you in but your own form. A Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp page, or a person, who offers to get you in or asks you to pay is not the programme. Apply only on ocn.fatefoundation.org and soar.fatefoundation.org.

The money, in plain words

The money comes in two parts, which the programme calls tracks. Its fund page puts it like this.

For every founder in the cohort: up to €4,000 (about ₦6 million). "Track 1, accessible to all entrepreneurs in the incubation cohort. It provides a prototype voucher and monthly allowance of up to €4,000 per entrepreneur." That is a voucher to build and test your product (the prototype voucher) and a monthly allowance, together, up to €4,000 in all for the six months. It is not €4,000 a month, and it is not one cash payment. The monthly amount and how it is paid: we cannot tell yet.

For five founders at the end: the fund page says between €10,000 and €35,000 each (about ₦15 million to ₦52.4 million). "Track 2 involves a pitch competition at the conclusion of the cohort where 5 entrepreneurs are selected by an expert jury. Successful entrepreneurs receive between € 10,000 to €35,000 in startup seed funding, in a mix of both grant and a loan." So part of that money is a gift and part is a loan you pay back. "Additionally, Track 2 offers extended business development support over a 24-month period." The jury picks the five; the page does not say how the amount is set for each, and nobody is promised the top of the range. The grant and loan shares, the interest and the time to repay: we cannot tell yet.

What you pay: nothing. "There are no participation fees for the programme. The programme is funded by scholarships from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and our private partners."

The figure that confuses people. The incubation page also says "Access up to €30,000 for prototype development and testing" (about ₦44.9 million), and reposts print that as what each founder gets. It is not. The fund page, which sets the amounts for Nigeria, gives every founder in the cohort up to €4,000 and five founders between €10,000 and €35,000 each. Go by the fund page.

Who this is for

You run a business in Lagos with a new product or service, two years old or younger, that you have already tested with your first customers. Any trade can apply: the criteria name none. You are 18 to 35. You can give six months to the programme beside your business.

Check that you can start

Answer these four questions in order. A "no" tells you where you stand.

1. Does your business run mainly in Lagos? The criteria ask for "core business operations in Lagos, Nigeria". If yes, go on. If it runs mainly in Ogun, the Ogun stream is "Ogun Application Closed" this round: go to Part 8. If it runs mainly in another state, this programme is not yours: its two hubs in Nigeria are in Lagos and Ogun. Give the true place your business runs on the form.
2. Are you between 18 and 35? The criteria say "Be between 18-35 years old". If you are 36 or older, this programme is not yours. If you turn 36 before the six months would end, the pages do not say which day your age is counted on: ask at the session if it is still ahead, or send the message below before you submit.
3. Is the idea you are applying with two years old or younger, and have real people paid for it or used it? The criteria ask for "a validated innovative business concept, not more than 2 years old": the concept is the idea, the product or service you apply with. If that idea was first sold or tested more than two years ago, this cohort is not yours. If your business is older but the idea you apply with is new, or your idea is close to two years old, the pages do not say how the programme counts it (from your first sale or from your registration): ask at the session if it is still ahead, or send the message below before you submit, and give both dates.
4. Does your product or service answer a problem people have in Nigeria? If you can say whose problem and how you solve it in two sentences, you are ready for Stage 1.

Nothing on the programme's pages asks for a nationality, a registered company (CAC registration) or a set amount of sales. Whether the form asks for a registered company: we cannot tell yet.

A message you can copy and send (to orangecorners@fatefoundation.org, if your age or your idea's age is close to the line and the session has passed):

> Good day. My name is [your name], and I am applying for Orange Corners Nigeria Cohort 16 in Lagos. My business, [business name], started in [month and year] and was registered in [month and year, or "is not registered"]. The idea I am applying with, [one line on what it does], first sold in [month and year]. Please, does it meet the "not more than 2 years old" criterion for this cohort? [Keep this line only if it is yours: I was born on [date]. On which day is the age of 18 to 35 counted?] Thank you.

The one thing people get wrong

They read the incubation page's "up to €30,000" as cash every founder gets, and they read the seed money as a gift. Every founder in the cohort gets up to €4,000 (about ₦6 million) from the voucher and the allowance together, over the six months, not each month. The seed money goes to five founders only, and part of it is a loan. Go in knowing what you are working for: six months of training, a mentor and money to test your product, and a chance at the final pitch.

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

1. Read the pages and check it fits (Stage 1). Today. The incubation page, the criteria, the fund page.
2. Make your account on FATE Foundation's application site (Stage 2). Five minutes. Free.
3. Join the info session (Stage 3). 30 October 2026, if it is still ahead. Free.
4. Write your answers and submit (Stage 4). By 29 November 2026. Free.
5. The wait and the interviews (Stage 5). The programme writes by email to its "50 selected semi-finalists".
6. The two-day bootcamp (Stage 6). Compulsory. The jury picks 20.
7. Your first day in the cohort (Stage 7). Six months of training, a mentor, the voucher and the allowance, up to €4,000 (about ₦6 million) in all.
8. The final pitch (Stage 8). Five founders, between €10,000 and €35,000 each as the fund page prints (about ₦15 million to ₦52.4 million), part grant and part loan, and 24 months of support.

What runs at the same time: while you wait for the session (Stage 3), write your answers (Stage 4). While you wait for the email (Stage 5), keep selling and keep your numbers, because the bootcamp asks about them.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Read the pages and check it fits

Back to the short stages

Why. Many reposts of this programme carry an old or wrong line: an old amount, an old number of places, old rules. And the programme's own pages do not all agree. Go by these: the dates and the sessions on the incubation page; the money on the fund page (up to €4,000 for every founder, between €10,000 and €35,000 for five, part loan), not the incubation page's "up to €30,000"; six months, not the home page's "16 Weeks"; and no start date yet, not the FAQ's "July 2024".

What you do. Today, open three pages and read each from top to bottom:

1. Orange Corners Nigeria, Incubation Programme, opens in a new tab: the window, the sessions and the "Join Cohort 16 in Lagos" button.
2. Orange Corners Nigeria, Orange Corners Innovation Fund, opens in a new tab: the two tracks of money.
3. Orange Corners, Nigeria, opens in a new tab: the application process and the FAQ. Tap each FAQ question ("What are the selection criteria?", "How can I apply?", "What are the benefits of this programme for me?", "When will I know if I am selected?", "When does the programme start?", "What are the costs of participation?") to open its answer.

Then answer the four questions of Check that you can start.

What you need. Your phone and data.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. An evening.

How you know it is done. You can say in one sentence whether you meet each of the five criteria, and you know the close is 30 November 2026.

What opens next. Stage 2, the account, the same evening.

What goes wrong, and what you do. A repost, or the incubation page's own line "up to €30,000", makes you think every founder gets €30,000; or a repost says the bootcamp takes 30. The fund page sets the money: up to €4,000 for each founder. The application process says 50 at the bootcamp.

Stage 2. Make your account on FATE Foundation's application site

Back to the short stages

Why. The form lives on FATE Foundation's application site, and you cannot see its questions until you have an account. Seeing them early tells you what to write and what to upload.

What you do.

1. On the incubation page, opens in a new tab, press "Join Cohort 16 in Lagos".
2. The application site opens on "Sign in". Press "Sign up" under "Don't have an account?".
3. Fill "First name", "Last name", "Email" and "Password". The page says "By creating your account, you agree to FATE Foundation Terms of use & Privacy policy". Press "Sign Up". You can also continue with Google after ticking the box.
4. Sign in, and go back through "Join Cohort 16 in Lagos" to open the Cohort 16 form. Read every question and every upload before you write anything.

What you need. An email address you read every day, and a password you will remember. Use your name as it is on your papers.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. About five minutes.

How you know it is done. You can sign in and you can see the Cohort 16 form.

What runs at the same time. Stage 3, the session registration.

What opens next. Stage 4, the writing.

What goes wrong, and what you do. The button opens a sign-in page and nothing else: that is the application site; press "Sign up". You forget your password: press "Forgot password?" on the sign-in page.

Stage 3. Join the info session

Back to the short stages

Why. It is the one time before you submit when the programme answers questions live, online.

What you do. Read The info session above: register on Zoom from the programme's page, check the hour Zoom shows you, and go with your three questions written down. Take notes of every answer, because you will use them in Stage 4.

What you need. A phone or laptop with Zoom, data for the whole session, and your questions.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. The registration takes two minutes. The page prints no length for the session.

How you know it is done. You have the answers to your three questions in your notes.

What opens next. Stage 4.

If the session has passed. The last info session was on 30 October 2026; read the incubation page from top to bottom before you start the form. Use the message in Part 1 for a question no page answers.

Stage 4. Write your answers and submit

Back to the short stages

Why. The form is your pitch. The programme invites 50 semi-finalists to the bootcamp, and the form is what gets you there.

What you do.

1. Write each answer in your notes app first, using What the judges look for: the problem, your solution, your customers and what they paid, what the money would let you test next, and who is on your team.
2. Gather what you can show: the number of customers you have served, what they paid, what they said, a photo of your product.
3. Paste each answer into the form and upload what it asks. The form's questions and uploads: we cannot tell yet.
4. Read the whole form once more and press submit. Screenshot whatever the site shows next, and keep any email that follows.

What you need. Your answers, your numbers, and the uploads the form names.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. Give it a week of evenings if you have the time; a long sitting if you do not.

How you know it is done. You have pressed submit and kept the screenshot.

When. By 29 November 2026. The page prints "November 30, 2026" and no hour.

What opens next. Stage 5, the wait.

What goes wrong, and what you do.

• The network cuts out while you type: that is why your answers live in your notes first.
• You wrote a list of products: rewrite it as the problem people have and how you solve it.
• You wrote what you hope to do: add what you have already done, with numbers.

Stage 5. The wait and the interviews

Back to the short stages

Why. The programme reviews the forms and picks its semi-finalists.

What you do. Watch the inbox of the email on your account, and its spam folder. The programme's words: "Please make sure to check your inbox regularly to see if you are one of the 50 selected semi-finalists." Its FAQ adds: "After the review process which will require interviews, successful applicants will be contacted via email." If the email invites you to an interview, get ready as you would for the bootcamp (Stage 6): have your numbers at hand (customers, sales, costs) and be ready to say the problem, your solution and your customers in two minutes, in your own words. A message about your place that asks you for money, for your place, for the bootcamp or to release funds, is not from the programme: "There are no participation fees for the programme." Do not pay, and never send your bank login or your BVN.

What you need. Your email, read every day, and your phone on.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. When the semi-finalists hear: we cannot tell yet.

How you know it is done. An email from the programme inviting you to the bootcamp or to an interview.

What runs at the same time. Keep selling, and keep your numbers: sales, customers, costs. The bootcamp and the final pitch ask about them.

What opens next. Stage 6, the bootcamp.

If you are not chosen. Go to Part 4, If you are not chosen.

Stage 6. The two-day bootcamp

Back to the short stages

Why. It is where the jury meets you and your business and picks the 20. "The 50 semi-finalists will be invited to participate in a compulsory two-day-long bootcamp in which a jury decides who are best placed to join the incubation programme." "Selection will be conducted according to the performance during the bootcamp."

What you do. Clear both days; the bootcamp is compulsory. Prepare a short talk about your business that you can give in front of the judges (your pitch): the problem, your solution, your customers and your numbers, and what you would do with the six months. Be ready to answer questions about each of the six things the judges score.

What you need. Your pitch, your numbers, and two clear days. Where it is held: we cannot tell yet.

What it costs. Nothing: "There are no participation fees for the programme."

How long. Two days.

How you know it is done. The programme tells you whether you are one of the 20.

What opens next. Stage 7, the cohort.

Stage 7. Your first day in the cohort

Back to the short stages

This is the arrival. "At the end of the bootcamp, 20 young entrepreneurs will be selected to participate for six months." See yourself among the 20: six months of training, mentors who have built businesses, other young business owners beside you, and a voucher and an allowance to build and test your product.

What you do. For six months, take part in the training, the guidance and the mentoring: workshops "on strategy, finance, and marketing", "tailored guidance and support to scale your venture, including industry visits", and mentors who have built businesses. Use the voucher to build and test your product, and keep your records of what you spent and what you learnt. Plan who runs your business on the days you are at the hub.

What the fund offers every founder in the cohort. A voucher to build and test your product and a monthly allowance, "up to €4,000 per entrepreneur" in all (about ₦6 million) over the six months. The monthly amount and how it is paid: we cannot tell yet. Also "Access to the incubator space" (a place to work at the hub) and a "reduced price for commercial domiciliation" (a business address for less).

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. Six months, "delivered as a hybrid". How many days a week are in person: we cannot tell yet.

People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the founders in the cohort helped each other: one said a staff problem in her business "was resolved in a single conversation with another founder in the programme", and that the contacts "can continue creating opportunities long after graduation".

What opens next. Stage 8, the final pitch.

Stage 8. The final pitch

Back to the short stages

Why. It is where five founders win the seed money. "Track 2 involves a pitch competition at the conclusion of the cohort where 5 entrepreneurs are selected by an expert jury." A pitch competition is a contest where each founder presents the business to the jury.

What you do. Pitch your business as it stands after six months: what you tested, what you sold, and what the seed money would let you build.

What you could get. "between € 10,000 to €35,000 in startup seed funding, in a mix of both grant and a loan" (about ₦15 million to ₦52.4 million), and "extended business development support over a 24-month period". Part of it is a loan you pay back. Before you accept, get in writing how much is grant and how much is loan, the interest, when repayment starts and how long you have, and what happens if a month's sales fall short. Sign only for a loan your business can repay from its sales. The shares and the terms: we cannot tell yet.

What it costs. Nothing to pitch.

How you know it is done. The jury names its five.

What follows. Whether you win or not, you leave with six months of training, the work you did with the voucher, your mentors and the founders of your cohort.

Part 4. What can stop you

Your deadlines

• 30 October 2026, 4:00 PM on the programme's page: information session 2 (read The hour, above).
• 29 November 2026: your last safe day to submit. The page prints "November 30, 2026" and no hour.
• The bootcamp: compulsory; its date comes by email.

What stops people, and what you do

• An idea more than two years old, or a business run mainly outside Lagos, or a founder over 35. The criteria rule it out. If you are close to a line, send the message in Part 1 before you submit.
• A form that lists products instead of the problem. Rewrite it as the problem people have and how you solve it, with your customers.
• No proof that people want it. Write down every customer, every sale and every piece of feedback before you write the form.
• Submitting on the last evening. No hour is printed. Submit by 29 November 2026.
• Missing an email. Read the inbox and the spam folder of the email on your account every day.
• Paying somebody. There is nothing to pay. Anybody who asks you for money to process the form, to get you in, or to release the funds is not part of the programme.
• Missing the bootcamp. It is compulsory. Clear both days as soon as you are invited.

If you are not chosen

The programme's FAQ on the Orange Corners site says: "You can apply twice a year, when the button 'apply now' is visible at the top of this page." The same FAQ still prints a 2024 start date, so do not plan on a month. Keep your notes, keep counting the customers you win in the months between, and apply to the next Lagos cohort while the idea you apply with is still two years old or younger.

Part 5. If you already did some of this

Start at the first stage you have not finished.

• You have read the pages and you meet the criteria. Start at Stage 2 today.
• You have an account on the application site. Open the Cohort 16 form today and read every question (Stage 2, step 4), then Stage 4.
• You went to the info session. Start at Stage 4 with your notes from it.
• You have drafted your answers. Paste them in, check the uploads and submit by 29 November 2026 (Stage 4).
• You have submitted. Start at Stage 5: watch your email.
• You have been invited to the bootcamp. Start at Stage 6.
• You are in the cohort. Start at Stage 7.
• You applied to an earlier cohort and were not chosen. Start at Stage 1: read the pages again, because lines change between rounds, and apply again if the idea you apply with is still two years old or younger.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, the pages: an evening.
• Stage 2, the account: about five minutes.
• Stage 3, the info session: 30 October 2026; the page prints no length.
• Stage 4, the form: a week of evenings, by 29 November 2026.
• Stage 5, the wait: when the semi-finalists hear: we cannot tell yet.
• Stage 6, the bootcamp: two days.
• Stage 7, the cohort: six months.
• Stage 8, the final pitch: at the end of the six months; the five who win get 24 months of support after it.

Part 7. The money, all of it

Part 8. If the window has closed

The window for Cohort 16 in Lagos closes on 30 November 2026. The Ogun application is closed this round. The programme's FAQ on the Orange Corners site says "You can apply twice a year, when the button 'apply now' is visible at the top of this page." The date of the next window: no page says yet (updated on 28 October 2026).

What you do now, for the next window:

1. Know when your two years run out. Write down the month your idea first sold or was first tested with customers, so you know which round is your last. Give the true date on every form.
2. Collect your proof. Every customer, every sale, every piece of feedback, every photo of your product. This is what the judges score.
3. Write your answers now, using What the judges look for, and keep them in your notes.
4. Make your account on FATE Foundation's application site now (Stage 2), so you are ready the day the form opens.
5. Open the incubation page, opens in a new tab at the start of each month. When it shows a new cohort for Lagos (or for Ogun, if your business runs there), start at Stage 1 of this guide.