From Michael Olatunji
SUNRISE NEWS, Lagos, Sept 12, 2020 Wema Bank, creators of Nigeria’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, is spearheading future innovations in Financial Technology with the second edition of its technological expo – Hackaholics 2.0.
The digital exhibition is part of the bank’s initiative to expand its digital innovation beyond being the first fully digital bank in Nigeria. The event which will be a 2-daypitching competition will be held online from October 30 – 31, 2020 and will feature leading industry specialists as the marked judges.
Earlier in 2019, the bank held the maiden edition of Hackaholics which attracted 463 start-ups to solve problems in nine different areas. The top twentywere invited for a 3-day hackathon and the winners, Eazychange received $10,000, in funding for their transport management solution. To develop the ideas presented at the hackathon into tech-driven commercial solutions, Wema Bank’s Innovation team further engaged six of the startups of which some of them have launched, beenabsorbed into the bank and the last batch set to launch as they were further developed at an incubation and acceleration program tagged “The Hackaholics Bootcamp”; the Bootcamp helped in transforming their products into working solutions.
Following the success of Hackaholics 2019, the bank is set to host the second edition, Hackaholics 2.0. themed ‘Connecting Worlds’. While we are fully aware of the impact of the pandemic on the country and our economy, the 2-day virtual event will focus on five essential areas – Health-tech (community health and disease management), Agric tech, Edutech, Financial technology services and Gaming & Betting in a bid to contribute to the country and economy recovery.
The hackathon focus for this year is to scale-up existing solution providers at the acceleration bootcamp prepared for winners of the pitch competition. Hackaholics 2.0 promises to be an interactive event where Business owners, Innovators, and Creative thinkers, will learn, network and demo their solutions which speaks to any of the problem areas. The winning solutions will receive up to $40,000 in funding alongside other numerous non-cash benefits like access to market, working with renowned industry experts, APIs amongst other resources.
To participate at the virtualhackaholics 2.0, please visit https://hackaholics.wemabank.comto register. Everyone can also key into the hackathon by following the conversations on social media through the hashtag #hackaholics2.0.
