Top Nigerian tech blog TechCabal seeks to break away from startup competitions that focus on niche sectors or companies as the website launches its own $10,000 contest.

This is according to TechCabal editor-in-chief Bankole Oluwafemi (pictured), whose blog has kickstarted a competition to search out startups, put finalists through a training session with professionals and allow them to present their businesses to a panel of judges.

Startups in the competition must have received less than $200,000 in funding prior to entering while the winner of Battlefield is planned to receive $10,000.

The competition takes place 19 February 2014 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos and is part of activities of Social Media Week Lagos 2014.

“We are all for OEM or OS specific app competitions and industry-disrupting hackathons and such, but we felt the ecosystem needed a unifying platform where all the best, regardless of what space they are in, can startups can showcase their products and technology,” Oluwafemi has told ITWeb Africa.

“The usual thing is for startups to show up to demo their stuff based on their own perceptions of what might work.

“But our model provides the participants with the benefit of a seasoned faculty that will hold their hands through the process and help them think through their technology, product, business and presentation, in order that they might be truly prepared to take on not just the judging panel, but also the world thereafter,” Oluwafemi added.

For further information, visit the contest website at http://techcabal.com/battlefield2014. For free tickets to the event, one can also register at http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/event/techcabal-startup-battlefield/.