Nigerian Startups Can Now Apply For Wema Bank’s Hackaholic

Advances in banking and financial technology mean more efficient solutions in dealing with the demands of an evolving market. As a bank marked with an identity of innovation, Wema Bank is a proven incubator of inventions and creative ideas, traits that continue to remain the hallmark of its operations long after its establishment in 1945. In proof of its promotion of software innovation, Wema Bank launched Nigeria’s first digital banking platform, ALAT, in 2017.  ALAT redefined experiential banking, winning several awards enough to gain Wema recognition as Nigeria’s most innovative bank. Wema Bank Hackaholics In line with its continuous support for the application of technology to society’s problems, Wema Bank plans to unveil its very own hackathon tagged – ‘Hackaholics.’ Hackathons are tech projects which bring together software developers and other digital creators to design solutions for everyday challenges. Every successful hackathon harvests new and impactful solutions that will drive business ideas and scale the heights of technology in today’s world. With Hackaholics, Wema Bank will pull together start-ups and young tech professionals to develop digital and computerize solutions that will alleviate financial, institutional and social challenges. Participants will be required to analyse the given problem areas, strategize, brainstorm and develop solutions that will be screened by a reliable team of judges.

Maybe your idea is worth a lot more, but we’ll never know if you don’t show us?

Register for Hackaholicks at https://t.co/udOnH4v7IW pic.twitter.com/a5xsvcOpwx

— Wema Bank (@wemabank) February 26, 2019

About the Hackathon Attendees can participate individually or in teams and teams can be formed prior to the Hackathon. Attendees are responsible for coming to the event with FinTech related ideas or finding a team to work with during the Hackathon. The Hackathon organizers and Technology partners may also provide teams with potential ideas to work on and offer prizes to the best team. APIs and platforms from technology partners will be made available during the Hackathon. Attendees will spend 72 hours coding, validating their ideas, networking and then demoing their hacks to a panel of VCs, executives and entrepreneurs.

Participants

Twenty (20) teams will be shortlisted for the hackathon. Submission of applications will stop on the 10th of March 2019 at 11:59 pm. Who can Apply -Not necessarily a registered company -Teams who have worked together for over six months

Prizes

– Funding. – Access to the Wema Bank Codeville incubator and accelerator program. – Exposure to investors and opportunities to deploy solutions. For the bank, the goal is to avail innovators, creative thinkers and software developers the opportunity to convert their visionary concepts into winning solutions which will be nurtured into marketable software applications. Along with awarding creators of the best solutions, the hackathon will improve skills and re-echo the bank’s passion to build a community of innovators working constantly to bring safer, more convenient and profitable banking to customers through fast and easy software solutions. Hackaholic by Wema Bank will take place from 29th to 31st March 2019. Innovators, creative thinkers, developers and coding experts across Nigeria are all invited to register for the hackathon by visiting www.wemabank.com/hackaholics. You can key into the hackathon by following the conversations on social media through the hashtag #hackaholics.