Aba to Host MTN’s “The Gathering” With Pitchathon Offering ₦5m Prize Pool For Emerging Startup Founders

MTN’s Youth cultural and lifestyle event “The Gathering” will hold in Aba at the Prime Event Centre from June 14 to 15, 2026, with a high-stakes Pitchathon designed to spotlight and reward the most promising early-stage founders in the city, offering a total prize pool of ₦5 million.

The competition will award ₦2.5 million to the winning startup, ₦1.5 million to the first runner-up, and ₦1 million to third place, giving young entrepreneurs not just funding, but a direct platform to validate their ideas in front of investors, consumers, and industry stakeholders.

The Aba Pitchathon follows a highly successful Lagos edition of The Gathering on 100, which took place at the National Stadium, Surulere, from April 22 to 26, where eight startups collectively received ₦45 million in seed funding after pitching solutions across fintech, healthtech, agritech, edtech, and creative technology.

At the Lagos edition, Hurpham Africa emerged as the overall winner with ₦15 million in funding support, followed by Coconoto Ltd with ₦10 million and Rava Send with ₦5 million. Five other startups – URI Social, Dulces Jams, Kindly Book, Africa Medical Marketplace, and MyFund – each received ₦3 million, alongside visibility and MTN business ecosystem support.

Organisers say the goal is to deepen access to opportunity across Nigeria by taking The Gathering on 100 beyond Lagos into high-potential commercial hubs like Aba, where entrepreneurship continues to thrive.

Registration is now open via The Gathering’s official website. Entrepreneurs, builders, and early-stage founders in Aba and surrounding cities are encouraged to apply for a chance to pitch live at the event.