Wema Bank is calling on institutions and stakeholders in the Nigerian technology space to keep innovating and supporting young players. This is in preparation for the fourth edition of its youth-focused startup competition, Hackaholics. The event will bring together 10,000 young innovators from across Nigeria and Africa. Wema Bank is offering N3 million, N2.5 million, and N1.5 million to the first three winners respectively. Another N1 million will go to the best women-led techpreneur.
Hackaholics is a competition aimed at providing a platform that enables innovators and startup founders with tech-driven or tech-enabled game-changing ideas and products to grow and blitzscale their ventures. The event is powered by Wema Bank/ALAT, and the fourth edition is tagged Re-imagined. The competition will focus on building finance beyond technology, according to Tunde Mabawonku, Executive Director, Digital Services of the bank.
Announcing the commencement of entries for Hackaholics 4.0, Mabawonku said that the bank is innovating to help individuals and organizations make the country better. He noted that the project will engage 10,000 tech entrepreneurs, produce 5,000 solutions, create six pitch centers, and have almost one million footfalls during the course of the campaign.
The event is in partnership with Microsoft, Amazon, Endeavour Africa, Meta, Paystack, and others, and it is expected to draw students from all parts of the world, particularly Nigeria, with touchpoints in Babcock University, Lagos State University, University of Abuja, University of Benin, Federal University of Tech, Akure, and the University of Lagos.
This year’s Hackaholics is focusing on building finance beyond technology, looking for entries with innovative solutions on how to solve gender violence, promote entertainment, and more. It is an initiative aimed at creating a platform for young innovators to showcase their talents and offer solutions to problems in society.
Entries for Hackaholics 4.0 are now open.
