Wema Bank to accelerate growth in Africa’s fintech industry with Hackaholics 4.0
Photo caption from left to right, Chief Digital Officer, Wema Bank, Olusegun Adeniyi; Divisional Head, Brand People, and Culture, Wema Bank, Ololade Ogungbenro; Executive Director, Digital and Retail Directorate Wema Bank, Tunde Mabawonku; Head Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility, Wema Bank, Abimbola Agbejule and Head Of Innovation, Wema Bank, Solomon Ayodele; at the launch of ALAT Hackaholics 4.0 press conference
By Zion Rufus
Determined to change lives and create a better world through technology, technologically savvy bank, Wema has opened registrations for the fourth edition of its hackathon, Hackaholics, an initiative which is positioned to be the largest campus-based hackathon in Africa.
Bringing together brilliant young minds in the financial technology landscape to tackle industry-specific challenges, this year, the competition will give out over $10,000 in cash prices to tech entrepreneurs.
Themed “Reimagine”, Hackaholics 4.0 will help young talents bring their game-changing ideas to life by providing a platform where talented individuals can collaborate to create innovative solutions to real-world problems. The hackathon will feature a career fair designed to provide job opportunities, internship opportunities, private programs, and insights into how young talents can prepare themselves for the future of work.
The fair will also offer numerous benefits to attendees such as speed mentoring, career exploration, positioning within the financial industry, insights into how to interview and how to present yourself, job opportunities, and networking opportunities with technology professionals and mentors within the technological environment.
Emphasizing on the importance of young talents to the survival of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem while commenting on the initiative at a press conference in Lagos, Tunde Mabawonku, executive director, digital services at Wema Bank stated that the future of tech in Nigeria now depends on the next generation of brilliant young minds,
He said: “A couple of years ago, it was clear to us at Wema that the path to growth was through technology, and we knew we could only achieve it by building a pipeline to innovation. First we have to innovate as an organization, and we also have to encourage others on how to innovate, and one of the best ways of doing that was by bringing in a pipeline of talents, by bringing in people that have the idea, energy, and passion.”
“Hackaholics is going to remain at the core of our strategic drive in engaging startups, tech enthusiasts, creative thinkers and all to compete for a prize while working on different innovative solutions for everyday problems. Eventually, we hope to open Hackaholics to the world, so that applicants won’t only be from Nigeria, but from all over the world.”
Hackaholics was introduced in 2019 to facilitate technology-driven solutions that will improve access to insurance services, advance healthcare, enhance government operations, reduce gender-based violence such as emergency messaging apps, enhance entertainment experiences, improve financial inclusion, and automate financial services.
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