A total sum of N53 million in prize money was won at the end of a keenly contested
hackathon session at the Second Edition of the Zenith Tech Fair, themed “Future Forward
2.0″, which was held on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, at the Eko Convention Centre,
Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The prize money was shared among eleven finalists who emerged from the over 500
contestants that took part in the hackathon, with Ecotutu, a cleantech company making
cooling affordable and accessible for businesses, especially in the agricultural sector,
emerging as the overall winner and taking home the grand prize of N20 million. This is in
addition to a mentorship programme with Seedstars, a company dedicated to implementing
high-quality capacity-building programmes for entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
The first runner-up, Foris Labs, an app-based platform that allows students to conduct
science experiments individually and in groups interactively via their mobile phones, won
N15 million and a mentorship programme with Seedstars, while the second runner-up,
Finva, a start-up which helps creditors offer credits at low risk, won N10 million as well as a
mentorship programme with Seedstars. Other finalists who took home N1million each
include Sanwo, Itinu -Ev, Eduvacity, Green Bii, Zion Robotics, Sono Care, Base, and I grow
Africa.
Speaking during the presentation of the prize monies, the Group Managing Director/CEO of
Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, congratulated all the finalists for coming this far
in the competition. He reiterated the bank’s readiness to provide all that is necessary to
make the budding entrepreneurs succeed. According to him, “all finalists would be enlisted
into our incubation lab for grooming and mentorship. Our expectation is that we are going to
scale and grow them just like the zenith brand. So, looking at what we have gone through, I
can tell you that so much iron has been loaded on fire. The only thing left is to activate the
digital talents, tech skills and entrepreneurship that would culminate in a new digital
economy for Nigeria”.
Described as a huge success by participants, the two-day Tech Fair featured presentations
on the leading technological innovations that cut across different aspects of life, such as
Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Robotics, Big Data,
FinTech, Augmented Reality, Data Analytics, 5G and Communication Technologies, with
the keynote address, “The Future of Banking: Digital Transformation Journey”, delivered by
Brett King, the renowned futurist, bestselling author, award-winning speaker, Founder of
Moven and Author of Bank 4.0.
