Three teams have emerged top winners in the final round of the ‘IncludeMe’ virtual Hackathon competition, the FSI/FUTMinna innovation challenge, held on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
Team Stemlab defeated nine other contestants to emerge victorious, carting home a grand prize of N1.5 million while the 1st runner-up, Team Rocket, went away with N1 million and Team EarNest came third, earning the sum of N750, 000.
Team Stemlab won with its innovative app, Ma’aji, an online and offline mobile payment platform in the Hausa language aimed at financial inclusion for both the banked and unbanked Nigerians.
Team Rocket pitched an app, ‘Oda Money,’ with which financial transactions in rural communities can be conducted without the use of cash or withdrawal from ATMs as cash is tokenized and accepted by merchants in these localities.
On the other hand, ‘Team EarNest’ clinched the third position with Kara Banking, a non-smartphone voice banking app in the Hausa language for MSMEs to conduct banking transactions irrespective of their literacy level or social status.
Other winners of the competition include Binary Hub, Wazobia, Sleek, Pennywise, Lambar, Esususave, and Pay4Service. They all went home with consolation prizes of N100,000 each and thanked FSI, FUTMinna, and the sponsors; Flutterwave, Capricorn Digital Ltd, and the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH) for allowing them to showcase their talents and develop inclusive and innovative solutions for MSMEs.
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The competition was conceptualised by Financial Services Innovators (FSI), a non-profit organisation committed to enabling start-ups within the technology and financial space, and organised in collaboration with FUTMinna, one of the leading specialised universities in the technology space in Nigeria.
The virtual hackathon, which started on March 11 with a webinar entitled, MSME Challenges in Northern Nigeria, is aimed at engendering inclusive financial solutions for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, focusing on the banking and insurance sectors in Northern Nigeria.
Speaking at the grand finale of the hackathon, the Executive Director, FSI, Aituaz Kola-Oladejo, explained that “The hackathon aims to identify talents in higher institutions and nurture them, thereby creating a pool of talents to address the financial inclusion challenges in Nigeria through an enabling platform and to develop the MSME sector and encourage entrepreneurship.
He thank the sponsors, Flutterwave, Capricorn Digital Ltd, and the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH) and partners for their support and encouragement just as he pleaded with the winners not to disappear after winning but to strive to advance their innovation until it is deployed in the market.”
The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Emmanuel Udensi, said, “We sincerely appreciate what FSI is doing. The hackathon is necessary for the development of the MSME sector and the growth of the economy.
Seventy-seven teams registered for the hackathon with a total number of 209 team members. However, fifteen teams with 43 team members were shortlisted to pitch their innovative ideas virtually to a panel of judges at the grand finale. The teams developed technological applications to solve real-life problems in suburban communities.
