Winners emerge in FSI/FUTMinna virtual hackathon

Winners have emerged in the ‘IncludeMe’ virtual hackathon organised by the Financial Services Innovators (FSI) and the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna.

Team Stemlab defeated nine other contestants to emerge victorious, carting home a grand prize of N1.5 million while the 1st runner-up, Team Rocket, went away with N1 million and Team EarNest came third, earning N500,000.

Team Stemlab won with its innovative app, Ma’aji, an online and offline mobile payment platform in the Hausa language aimed at financial inclusion for both the banked and unbanked Nigerians.

Team Rocket pitched an app, Oda Money, to conduct financial transactions in rural communities without the use of cash or withdrawal from ATMs as cash is tokenized and accepted by merchants in these localities.

Team Earnest clinched the third position with Kara Banking, a non-smartphone voice banking app in the Hausa language for MSMEs aimed at conducting banking transactions irrespective of the user’s literacy level or social status.

Other winners of the competition include Binary Hub, Wazobia, Sleek, Pennywise, Lambar, Esususave, and Pay4Service which carted away N100,000.

Speaking at the grand finale, the Executive Director, FSI, Aituaz Kola-Oladejo, said: “The hackathon aims to identify talents in higher institutions and nurture them, thereby creating a pool of talents to address the financial inclusion challenges in Nigeria through an enabling platform.”

The Vice-Chancellor, FUT Minna in Niger State, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Emmanuel Udensi, said, “The hackathon is necessary for the development of the MSME sector and the growth of the economy.”