Ten finalists that emerged in the keenly contested hackathon session involving over 1,700 contestants in the fourth edition of the Zenith Bank Tech Fair shared a total sum of N77.5m in prize money.
The Tech Fair themed “Future Forward 4.0: Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity & Growth Imperatives – The Impact of AI,” held on Thursday, November 21, 2024, in Lagos produced JumpnPass, a self-checkout technology solution reshaping the retail landscape in Africa emerging as the overall winner.
It took home the grand prize of N25m, in addition to a six-week mentorship and incubation programme designed to help them grow and scale effectively, which will run from December 2024 to February 2025.
CreditChek, a credit and verification service provider which leverages AI and open banking to streamline income and credit history verification for financial institutions, emerged first runner-up, winning N20m and a mentorship programme.
The second runner-up, Salad Africa, a start-up which offers seamless integration of credit products for digital platforms and software companies won N15m as well as a mentorship programme.
Other finalists who took home N2.5m each include Regxta, CashAfrica, Middleman, Messenger, Pocketfood, Famasi Africa, Kitovu.
Earlier in her welcome address during the programme, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank Plc, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, expressed appreciation to the founder and chairman, Dr Jim Ovia, for birthing the idea that led to the establishment of the Tech Fair initiative five years ago. She thanked him for his vision and foresight in utilizing technology to revolutionize the world of business and banking.
Commenting on the Hackathon, she said the “prestigious annual event was created to empower and nurture young fertile minds. We hope to produce the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk from the Zenith Bank Hackathons in the nearest future.
“According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 70% of Nigeria’s population are youths which is an economic asset when properly harnessed. This is part of the reason why Zenith Bank is hosting this event to support the development of technology startups. Their success not only fosters innovation and growth in Nigeria, but it also plays a vital role in creating employment opportunities for our youth,” she noted.
The GMD stressed the importance of innovation and embedded finance in ensuring strong and enduring institutions, noting the importance of adapting and adopting “technology to stay ahead of the curve. We have seen various cases of companies that failed because of their lack of innovation. It is quite obvious that when companies fail to innovate; they can easily be displaced, so this is not the time to be orthodox, innovation should be a top priority for us.”
In a goodwill message, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, called for a global approach to doing business in the country, as according to him, “what we need to do is to be able to enhance our product and services in order to compete in the world. We can’t continue to act local, we need to think global. Anything that we’re doing now, we need to be able to know that we are not just serving a local market, we actually want to serve the global market, and that’s why I’m glad that consistently, for the past four years, I have kept up with the Zenith Tech Fair. I am sure 5.0 should be bigger and better than what we have today, but for us as a government, what we need to do is to continue to use platforms like this to reassure you of our readiness to provide an enabling environment for your ideas and innovative solutions.”
Described as a huge success by participants, the Fair featured the launch of Zenith Bank’s digital wallet, EazyByZenith, which will help to support the bank’s retail and financial inclusion strategy. The fair also included presentations on the leading technological innovations that cut across different aspects of life, such as Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Compliance, Financial Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Communication Technologies, with the keynote address, “Banking Transformation in a Digital World”, delivered by Robin Speculand, a renowned Strategy & Digital Implementation Specialist.
The event also featured goodwill messages by Ovia, Senator Kashim Shettima, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was represented by Dr. Tope Fasua, Special Adviser to the Presidency on Economic Matters.
Other eminent IT practitioners from top global brands who also made presentations include; Robin Speculand, renowned Strategy & Digital Implementation Specialist; Danilo McGarry, Global Expert on Digital Transformation and AI; Jania Okwechime, Partner, Africa, AI & Data Leader, Deloitte; Rupert Nicolay, Director, Microsoft Worldwide Financial Services.
The panel session had Wole Odeyele, Client Technology Lead for Microsoft Inc. as its host, and featured six discussants including Ada Jabaru, Founder & Director, Nistad Limited; Funke Opeke, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, MainOne; Guy Futi, Chief Executive Officer, Orda; Dr Auwal Adam Sa’ad, Founder, ZamzamPay; Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and Engr. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, Director General/Chief Executive Officer, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The Zenith Bank startup pitch competition and incubation program seeks to identify and fast-track the growth of high-potential Nigerian startups innovating in key sectors, including Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity, Fintech, HealthTech, Agritech, E-commerce, and more. The program provides an ideal platform for startups to showcase their groundbreaking ideas and gain access to invaluable resources to scale their businesses.
