The Fourth Edition of the Zenith Tech Fair, themed "Future Forward 4.0: Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity & Growth Imperatives – The Impact of AI," concluded on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, with a total of N77.5 million in prize money awarded for a highly competitive hackathon session.
Read also: Hackathon: NITDA, ECOWAS empower West African youths to protect continent’s cyberspace
Hackathon winners
JumpnPass, a self-checkout technology solution redefining African retail, won the grand prize of N25 million alongside the other ten finalists from over 1,700 hackathon participants. This is in addition to a six-week mentorship and incubation program from December 2024 to February 2025 to guide growth and scaling.
First runner-up CreditChek, a credit and verification service provider that uses open banking and artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite income and credit history verification for financial institutions, took home N20 million and a mentorship program. Second runner-up Salad Africa, a start-up that provides smooth integration of credit products for software companies and digital platforms, took home N15 million and a mentorship program.
The other finalists, Regxta, CashAfrica, Middleman, Messenger, Pocketfood, Famasi Africa, and Kitovu, received N2.5 million.
Remarks from leadership
The chief executive of Zenith Bank, Ms Adaora Umeoji, stated, “This prestigious annual event was created to empower and nurture young fertile minds.”
She expressed optimism that the programme will “produce the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk” in the near future.
Read also: Fintech Platform Sycamore Takes Top Prize at NSIA Innovation Awards
In his goodwill message, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, called for a global approach to business in the country.
“What we need to do is to be able to enhance our product and services in order to compete in the world. We can’t continue to act locally; we need to think globally.
“Anything that we’re doing now, we need to be able to know that we are not just serving a local market; we want to serve the global market, and that’s why I’m glad that consistently, for the past four years, I have kept up with the Zenith Tech Fair.
“I am sure 5.0 should be bigger and better than what we have today, but for us as a government, what we need to do is to continue to use platforms like this to reassure you of our readiness to provide an enabling environment for your ideas and innovative solutions,” he stated.
