WEMA BANK UNVEILS TOP 25 FINALISTS FOR HACKAHOLICS 4.0 GRAND FINALE

Nigeria’s foremost innovative bank and leading financial institution, Wema Bank, has unveiled the top 25 finalists that will be competing for over N50,000,000 cash prize in the grand finale of Hackaholics 4.0, happening live at the maiden edition of the Africa’s largest gathering of technology experts and digital revolutionaries; the Hackaholics Digital Summit, on Friday, October 6, 2023, in Lagos.

The Top 25 finalists are: Daniel Babalola for Team Talo, Adeniyi Daniel for Team TouchNut, David Campbell for Team Naija Box, Ebulue Ifeanyichukwu Henry for Team Raptor, Jane Agbaohwo for Team Ireti, Raphael Fynecontry for Team Qevolt Limited, Oluwayemi Victoria Oluwapelumi for Team Crox Technologies Limited, Joshua Mosinmiloluwa Ajadi for Team District 7, Bonojo Adedayo for Team Pup Industries, Tochukwu Ifeanyi for Team Outsidee, Olukayode Fadairo for Team mumAlive, Kingsley Obasi for Team Telehealth Support, Seriki Sogo for Team SitiPass, Efemena Hilda Onovre for Team Nadir, Oluwatimilehin Ogunme for Team Trakka, Nelson Nelson-Atuonwu for Team Grip, Godfrey Ayaosi for Team Afrilingo, Oluwatoyin Ajayi for Team Travel Buddy, Gift Akobundu for Team Shopalz Chai, Olabanji Taiwo for Team Waste2Life, Macaulay Precious Teinna for Team Chekka Inc., Gladness Akinpelu for Team Oak, Victor Ojo for Team Favorite Doctor, Idiare Grace for Team VarsityScape and Damilare Ololade for Team UniversityX.

Hackaholics is Wema Bank’s youth & start-up focused initiative designed to provide a platform for young innovators with game changing, tech-driven ideas and products, to bring their creative ideas to life, hone their skills and gain a competitive edge in the global technology and digital space. Since its launch in 2019, Hackaholics has toured the six geo-political zones in Nigeria including 37 universities across Africa, sourcing creative undergraduate students, youth and start-ups, challenging them to innovate and create practical solutions to real-life problems, using technology.

Since inception, at least 300,000 lives and businesses across the country have leveraged the visionary hackathon to make their big break into the tech industry and transform their passion for technology into sustainable sources of income, earning grants of over $200,000 from Wema Bank. The ongoing 4th edition of Hackaholics, dubbed Hackaholics 4.0: Reimagine, has seen participants pitch compelling creative ideas for impactful solutions that would ease struggles across 10 different areas of human life: Education, Climate, GovTech, Health, Gender-based Violence, Financial Inclusion, Entertainment, Fintech, Insurance and CivicTech. Now pared down to 25, the best performing contestants have been unveiled as the Top 25 finalists in the Hackaholics 4.0 competition.

The legendary Hackaholics grand finale week is here, and the finalists have convened in Lagos for a week-long programme of strategic digital empowerment activities, carefully curated by Wema Bank. Over the first few days, finalists received one-of-a-kind executive mentorship from renowned national and global technology corporations like Microsoft, KPMG, Samsung, Paystack, Flutterwave and Dream Space, among others. This would equip them with hands-on insight and prepare them for the Hackaholics 4.0 grand finale pre-pitch on Thursday 5th October 2023, where the pre-pitch judges will select the Top 10 finalists that would compete in the Hackaholics 4.0 grand finale. The winners will be chosen at the grand finale on Friday 6th October 2023, through a rigorous selection process anchored by an esteemed panel of 3 judges: Ireayomide Oladunjoye, the MD/CEO of Endeavor Africa, Adeoluwa Akomolafe, the Chief Information Officer of Wema Bank and Ayodele Olojede, Wema Bank’s Divisional Head, Retail and SME.

Once again, Wema Bank raises the bar for holistic banking and financial services in Nigeria, with over N50,000,000 cash prize distributed across 5 categories; The winner gets N15,000,000, 1st runner-up gets N10,000,000, 2nd runner-up gets N7,000,000, N5,000,000 is reserved for any female-led team to encourage more women to key into tech, while N22,000,000 is disbursed in University Stem endowment.

Wema Bank is undeniably the foremost organisation in Nigeria to host a campus-based ideathon of this magnitude for young Nigerians across Nigeria. With each solution, partnership and initiative, the pioneering financial institution continues to orchestrate a seamless financial, economic and digital innovation ecosystem to enhance Nigerian lives and businesses, support goals and drive economic growth and national development.