Nigeria’s leading digital bank, ALAT by Wema, has announced the call-for-entries for the 2023 edition of its Hackathon programme, a tech talent discovery and nurturing project tagged #Hackaholics 4.0 tagged ‘Re-imagine’.
This year’s edition is on a mission to investigate the endless possibilities in emerging technologies while utilizing its neo-bank proposition to significantly expand the student and youth eco-system, deepen the bank’s brand, and place the brand in a position to attract and retain tech talent.
The Hackaholics program is a youth-focused competition for entrepreneurs and innovators with game-changing concepts and products that are tech-driven or tech-enabled that want to expand and quickly scale their companies.
It is aimed at young Nigerians using their coding, product curation, and pitching talents to address/solve pressing societal problems in the different sectors.
The bank plans to engage 10,000 tech entrepreneurs, produce 5,000 solutions, create six pitch centres, and have almost one million footfalls during the campaign. For this year, $10,000 is at stake for the winner.
Tunde Mabawonku; Head Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility, Wema Bank, Abimbola Agbejule, Head Of Innovation, Wema Bank, Solomon Ayodele; Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, Wema Bank;
Head Brand and Marketing Communications, Wema Bank, Mabel Adeteye and Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, Wema Bank, Babatunde Mumuni, at the launch of ALAT Hackaholics 4.0 press conference held yesterday,
Tuesday 14th, March 2023 in Ilupeju, Lagos.
To cover more grounds regarding societal problems, this year’s Hackaholics edition is expanding its scope and exploring more verticals, including Education, Climate, CivicTech, Insurance, GovTech, Health, Gender-Based Violence, Fintech, Financial Inclusion, and Entertainment.
Speaking on the reason for the vertical expansion, Solomon Ayodele, Head of Innovation, ALAT by Wema, said,
We want to encourage young minds who can build solutions beyond just naira and kobo, we want people who can solve real-life problems that can provide solutions around civic-tech, around gov-tech, converting gender-based violence, entertainment, and health and this was the reason why we picked the theme ‘Re-imagine‘.
Solomon Ayodele, Head of Innovation, ALAT by Wema
40 teams will be selected per centre, and only ten will pitch their ideas. This round of live pitches will be held in six universities; Lagos State University, University of Benin, Babcock University, Nile University, Abuja, University of Abuja, and Federal University of Technology, Akure.
The grand finale will be held at the University of Lagos. Also, some selected participants will be given a two-day exploration trip to some top companies based on their solution vertical to learn more about their operations.
How to apply
The Hackaholics competition is open to every Nigerian youth who is currently working on a solution. This includes non-programmers and individuals with no Computer Science degree.
Another requirement is a summary of your solution, competitors, target market, and team formation (min of 3). Every interested applicant is also required to own an ALAT account.
Upon registration, individuals will get shortlisted and invited for the incubation session, which is in partnership with some global companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Endeavour Africa, etc
Read Also: 5 Reasons why Wema Bank’s ALAT is the Best Digital Bank for 2017
Benefits & Perks
Some of the benefits for these innovators and startup founders who will participate in the live pitches and incubation sessions will receive many benefits, including:
- Provide grants for innovators and startup founders to build and scale their solutions.
- The Hackathon will provide support for product and integration.
- It will give massive visibility to participants’ teams and solutions.
- Provide access to the community of founders.
- Provide coaching and mentorship opportunities for founders.
- Learn from renowned industry experts.
Selected candidates will pitch their ground-breaking ideas to a panel of judges (industry-proven professionals) who will select the top contenders vying for the ₦7 million in cash prizes at the grand finale.
The winner will walk away with a cash prize of ₦3 million, the first runner up with ₦2.5 million, and the second runner up ₦1.5 million. There is also a cash prize of ₦1 million for the first women-led startup.
To register for the Hackaholics competition, click here
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