Wema Bank Plc is inviting startups to apply to be part of the second edition of its technological expo – Hackaholics 2.0 as part of its efforts to expand its digital innovation beyond being the first fully digital bank in Nigeria.
The event which would be a 2-day pitching competition would be held online from October 30th to 31st, 2020, and would 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 20 were 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 said its team further engaged six of the startups of which some of them had launched, absorbed them 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,” it added.
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