By Rosemary Iwunze

Grease Boss has emerged winner of the Innov8League season 1.0 Global Innovation Challenge, a virtual competition spotlighting the world’s brightest emerging innovators.

Ms Balikis Ololade, the Media Director of innov8league, confirmed this in a statement made available in Lagos.

Ololade said in a thrilling culmination of ideas, passion, and purpose, the winning team captivated judges with its scalable solution to grease waste management—a problem often overlooked but one with immense environmental and commercial significance.

She explained that the competition hosted entirely online, brought together participants from across the globe, giving innovators at all stages—idea, MVP, or early startup—a rare platform to showcase their work.

According to her, the competition received over 400 applications spanning health, sustainability, fintech, agriculture, and deep tech.

“After several rigorous evaluation rounds, live pitching, and interactive question and answer sessions, GreaseBoss stood out for its originality, impact potential, and readiness to scale.

“This year’s judging panel featured esteemed professionals across technology, innovation, and development.

“Their insights not only helped shape the final outcomes but left lasting impact on contestants,”she said.

The Innov8League spokesperson appreciated Chidiebube Ozioko, Senior Security Researcher at Intel Corporation, USA, Tomilola Abiodun, Senior Technical Product Manager at Microsoft, Bellevue, USA, Olufemi AJAYI, Specialist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy, Christianah Gbaja, Experienced Security Engineer at Goldman Sachs.

Alongside Paula Manuel, Management Consultant at EY, Solomon Alolga, Investment Banker at Bank of America, Idriss Laouali Abdou, Senior Product Manager at AWS, Seattle, Ugochukwu Ofurum, Daniel, Corporate Finance Manager and Investment Banker at American Family Insurance.

According to her, their collective expertise brought credibility and precision to the judging process—providing high-impact feedback that contestants found not only practical but transformative.

“These founders are architecting real-world change with limited resources. The level of discipline and vision was remarkable,”she said.

Ololade noted that unlike traditional pitch competitions, Innov8League was built to be radically inclusive.

She said eliminating barriers like geography, traction, and funding allowed innovators from over 25 countries to enter for the competition, including students, grassroots entrepreneurs, early-stage startups, and professionals.

Ololade stated that with Grease Boss leading the pack, other standout ventures included: AgricFocusNG – Revolutionizing African agriculture with data-backed crop insights and smart farming tools.

Also, ExamAce – Empowering learners with an AI-enhanced exam preparation platform tailored for local and global academi1c benchmarks.

She said all the finalists received tailored feedback, exposure to new markets, and potential investor introduction to ensure that the competition goes beyond prizes and into long-term growth.

Juan Gacias, Brand Manager at Georgia-Pacific/ Innov8League Organizing chairman, said innovation is the relentless pursuit of better and this year the competition witnessed just how global that pursuit has become.

Tomilola Abiodun, Chairman, Innov8League Judging Committee, also said judging submissions for the competition was not just about evaluation- it was about witnessing the future unfold.

Abiodun said the passion, clarity, and technical depth of the contestants were exceptional.

The organiser invited a fresh wave of creators, builders, and visionaries to take part in the next round of Innov8League—v2.0 which would kick off in the last week of July 2025.

“To compete or join as a judge visit www.innov8league.com to sign up and be part of a global innovation movement,”the organiser said.