Team ATBU emerged the overall winner at the Financial Service Inclusion for All Hackathon competition held on the 15th of August 2022 during the Nigeria Association of Computing Students (NACOS) national conference at Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Financial Services Innovators (FSI is a non-profit organization tailored to uncovering talents in tech at tertiary institutions and facilitating start-ups within the technology and financial services space. The hackathon challenge was a partnership of FSI with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NIBSS, GDG Lagos, Flourish, AXA Mansard, and Yellow Cowries.
Meet the Team and Amount Won
Team ATBU defeated eight other contestants winning the sum of N1 million. Team Sauki Health who was the 1st runner-up, cart away with N750,000, and the 2nd runner-up, Team BetaLife went away with N500, 000. Other participants who won N100,000 each include Locapay, Digi Clinic, Trowpass, Rocket, Safepay, and Dono.
In addition, Team ATBU won a ticket to an innovative trip-booking platform for people who have access to the internet and vice versa. Team Sauki presented a proposal for an online and offline application to provide health services for Nigerians while Team BetaLife presented a Blood Bank app to address and change the narratives of blood donation challenges in the country.
Director of FAI Speaks
Speaking with the Executive Director of FSI, Aituaz Kola-Oladejo, she said the hackathon challenge is a result of her desire to groom young talents in the tech field. In her statement, she said “We believe that once we start grooming young talents in technology, we’ll be able to create employment opportunities. We also want to change the narrative. We have seen youngsters coming out of Nigeria doing great stuff like Flutterwave, Paystack, etc., but there is still a lot to do. What the young innovators need is support. So, we are providing them with the ladder to grow and achieve their goals and dreams. That’s exactly what we are doing with this Financial Inclusion for All Hackathon challenge.”
NACOS President Speaks
Olamilekan Abolade, the NACOS President, emphasized the importance of this year’s conference. He said it was necessary to come together and revitalize the Nigerian economy with technology. In regards to this, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, President of Nigeria Computer Society, gave an appreciation speech to FSI for organizing such an event and supporting NACOS.
Also, the keynote speaker, Dean & Head of School, Faculty of Computational Sciences & Informatics, Academic City University, Accra, Ghana, Prof Olumide Longe advised and challenged young scholars to come up with innovative ideas that will impact Nigeria positively and the world at large.
