Winners Named in Union Bank Campus Innovation Challenge

Nume Ekeghe

Winners have emerged in the Union Bank Campus Innovation Challenge, following a pitch event which held recently in Lagos.

The Innovation Challenge provided a platform for students of tertiary institutions to present innovative, technology-driven ideas that address social and business challenges, for a chance to attract financial and mentorship support from Union Bank of Nigeria and leading social innovation hub, Co-Creation Hub (CcHub).

During the one-month entry period which spanned from July 4 to August 5, over 800 entries were received from students across the country with innovative ideas that sought to solve various challenges in the society.

Following the entry period, nine semi-finalists were shortlisted from the vast pool of entries and invited to present their ideas which were judged based on criteria including business model, innovation, capacity to execute, market opportunity and level of social impact.

The panel of judges included Union Bank’s Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Lola Cardoso; Head, Transaction Banking, Chidi Ileka; Director of People at CcHub, Toun Tunde-Anjous; South-West Executive Director at Bank of Agriculture, Bode Abikoye and Executive Director, LEAP Africa, Femi Taiwo.

The duo of Kolawole Tomisin and Erioluwa Morenikeji, from the University of Ibadan emerged first prize winners of N1.5 million for their initiative – Vinsighte, a health technology project that makes use of technology to help blind and visually impaired persons live a happier, more comfortable life.

The first runners up, Obasogie Okpamen, Hermans Joshua and Usifoh Benedict all from Landmark University, received N1 million for their sustainable power project, Ina Lite; while the second runners-up from the Federal University of Technology Akure, Alabi Oladimeji and Solomon Fabusuyi got N500,000 for Farmally, an agricultural funding initiative.