60 Nigerian SMEs Receives ₦50.5 Million In Grooming Endowment Trust Compass Grants; APPLY NOW for the 2026 Programme

Grooming Endowment Trust Has Supported 60 SMEs Over Four Years

Since its establishment, Grooming Endowment Trust Compass has benefited 60 SME owners and granted ₦50.5 million in grants over the past four years. The figures were revealed when the organisation launched the fifth edition of GET Compass in Lagos. The programme is the major Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Grooming Center, a Nigerian microfinance institution.

The ₦50.5 million in direct grant assistance is non-repayable, unlike traditional corporate loans. Spreading ₦50.5 million across 60 beneficiaries amounts to an average of ₦841,667 per beneficiary. However, this is merely a mathematical average, and not every entrepreneur received the same amount.

The 2023 GET Compass cohort resulted in 13 grant recipients. Five enterprises won ₦2 million apiece, with the remaining eight receiving ₦250,000 each. Tipping Recycle, Replast Engineering, Smoothies Bargains and Shakes, Craft Planet, and Makizi Blossoms and Enterprises were the top five beneficiaries.

GET Compass’s third edition, 2024, was designed to provide business advising support to a final group of 15 enterprises. The GET announcement indicated that the programme will give equity-free funding and intensive training; however, the available source does not specify the final number of grant beneficiaries for that year.

GET Compass Cohort 5; Official 2026 Application Eligibility Criteria

For entrepreneurs considering this or future cohorts of the GET Compass grant, the eligibility criteria are pleasantly straightforward rather than too complex.

Chike Ugwu, The Chief Operations Associate of GET Compass stated that applicants must be at least eighteen years old, run a business that is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and have been in business for less than three years, firmly positioning this as an early-stage and startup-friendly grant rather than one aimed at established businesses.

GET has started applications for the fifth edition of GET Compass, providing a new opportunity for Nigerian entrepreneurs looking for equity-free company investment.

Interested applicants can apply directly through the official GET’s event site https://getgrantprogram.groomingendowment.org/compassEvents

Mentorship and Long-term Support

A frequent and heartening theme in Ugwu’s statements was that aside from the financial rewards all finalists will benefit from an exclusive mentorship program designed to provide them with the skills and guidance needed to develop truly sustainable enterprises. Ugwu emphasised that the Trust’s primary goal is to discover entrepreneurs who have good company concepts but lack the financial capacity to develop, and then work with them to ensure that their firms survive much beyond the initial award cycle.

Clifford Onyeike, Chief Operating Officer of Creme Consulting, the firm that handles the grant program on behalf of GET, also spoke at the conference, stating that information obtained from prior grantees demonstrates that the intervention is already producing measurable and encouraging outcomes.

Onyeike stated that beneficiaries have exhibited good business acumen and made significant success since receiving both the awards and the corresponding mentorship. He referred to small and medium-sized firms as “the soul of Nigeria’s economy,” and emphasised the need of small business development for job creation, innovation, and overall economic growth.

The Rigorous Road From 7,000 Applicants to 15 Finalists

Ugwu did not shy away from underlining how competitive and demanding the selection process is. He explained that each company plan submitted would go through a multi-stage screening procedure carried out by a technical team comprised of industry specialists. Only 100 entrepreneurs will be shortlisted from the entire pool of applicants, and only 15 finalists will be chosen from that group.

The 2026 edition will have a total cash prize pool of ₦13 million, with five finalists receiving ₦2 million each and the remaining ten receiving ₦300,000. It is a hard, punishing process, but one that GET believes is required to uncover entrepreneurs with truly viable concepts rather than merely dispersing funds thinly.

Looking ahead, the successful applicants chosen from this year’s tough pool are slated to be formally announced and presented with their cheques during a special event on October 30 in Lagos. That date is now an important date for anyone following this year’s cohort, whether as a hopeful applicant, an interested observer, or a fellow participant in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding small business lending arena.

Conclusion

Over the past four years, the Grooming Endowment Trust (GET) has provided direct grants of ₦50.5 million to sixty small and medium-scale company owners. The average award size for businesses is approximately ₦842,000, but this varies by cohort and category, according to the trust.

In addition to the ₦50.5 million award, GET has spent a comparable amount on program contingencies, highlighting the resource-intensive nature of genuine SME empowerment when done effectively, rather than just for headlines.

For entrepreneurs working in education, healthcare, enterprise and community development, humanitarian assistance, or social entrepreneurship, this is still a valid and worthwhile opportunity to keep an eye on, apply for when qualified, and follow thru to the October 30 reveal in Lagos.

For more information, visit https://getgrantprogram.groomingendowment.org/compassEvents or https://getgrantprogram.groomingendowment.org/

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