Afreximbank has opened a junior chef competition through its CANEX programme, inviting young Nigerian culinary talents to showcase their skills. The junior chef contest, part of CANEX WKND 2026, seeks rising stars aged 16 to 21 who can turn African culinary heritage into bold, signature dishes, with finalists earning a place on a live stage in Lagos.
What the junior chef competition offers
The competition invites aspiring chefs, culinary students and self-taught food creatives from across Nigeria to apply. Eight young chefs will ultimately earn their place on the live stage at CANEX WKND in Lagos, where they will create dishes that honour the flavours, traditions and stories of the continent. The contest is designed to spotlight fresh talent and celebrate the depth of African cuisine.
Who can enter and when
Applicants must be aged 16 to 21, live or work in Nigeria, and be willing to travel to Lagos for the event. Applications opened in early June and run until late June through the official CANEX platform. The eligibility criteria are deliberately open, welcoming both formally trained students and self-taught cooks, reflecting an effort to surface raw talent wherever it is found across the country.
How winners are chosen
Shortlisted applicants will advance to a semi-final round of live cooking sessions before an independent jury of culinary leaders from across Africa and the Caribbean. Competitors will be judged on creativity and innovation, technical skill, plating and presentation, ingenuity with local ingredients, and their ability to tell cultural stories through food. The format rewards not just cooking ability but imagination and heritage.
More than a contest
Selected participants stand to gain visibility, mentorship and connections with leading chefs and sector stakeholders. Organisers frame the competition as a pathway to translate culinary talent into enterprise, helping young people build careers and businesses around food. By linking cooking to opportunity, the initiative positions gastronomy as a creative industry with real economic potential for Nigeria’s youth.
Backing the food economy
The competition fits a broader effort by Afreximbank to support Africa’s creative and food economies through its CANEX platform. Food and gastronomy are increasingly recognised as part of the continent’s creative sector, with potential for jobs, tourism and exports. By investing in young chefs, the bank aims to nurture talent that can elevate African cuisine and contribute to economic growth across the region.
Africa’s growing creative economy
The competition forms part of a broader push by Afreximbank, through its CANEX platform, to develop Africa’s creative and cultural industries as engines of growth. Food and gastronomy are increasingly recognised within that creative economy, alongside music, film, fashion and the visual arts, all of which carry potential for jobs, exports and tourism. By investing in young chefs and showcasing African cuisine, the initiative seeks to elevate the continent’s culinary heritage on a global stage while creating commercial pathways for talented individuals. Nigeria, with its rich food culture and large youth population, is a natural focus for such efforts. If sustained, programmes like this could help transform passion and skill in the kitchen into viable careers and enterprises, contributing to a more diversified and creative African economy.
The junior chef competition offers Nigeria’s young culinary talents a notable platform. Viorah TV will continue to follow Africa’s growing creative and food economy.
