How start-ups leverage Wema Bank’s Hackaholics to navigate funding challenge
Despite abundant human resources, the world's progress and development are hampered by a lack of money for innovation.
According to the United Nations (UN), venture capitalists' willingness and ability to provide large sums of money is being negatively impacted by high interest rates, making it more difficult to support innovation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of the UN discovered in a recent assessment that 2022 will be characterized by rising government and corporate investment on R&D, particularly in fields like biotech and artificial intelligence.
However, at the same time, the global value of venture capital (VC) funding—which aids in converting concepts and ideas into goods and services—fell by 40% and is still declining.
In order to fulfill its obligation to foster creativity and guarantee that young people in Nigeria receive sufficient support and inspiration, Wema Bank launched Hackaholics, a youth-focused program, in 2019.
“As responsible citizens, we decided to play our part. This led us to focus our Hackaholics events on campus locations across the country – the hotbeds of critical ideation and disruptive innovation. We believe that by providing the platform for our technically savvy and creative youth, we can help drive much-needed transformation in our nation. We have gone beyond just banking the youth to giving them a launch pad for self-actualisation, said Moruf Oseni, managing director/chief executive officer, Wema Bank plc.
Oseni emphasized that in order to positively alter technology and innovation not only in Nigeria but throughout Africa, it is imperative that the tech industry adopt cutting-edge insights, trends, and best practices
He pointed out that the continent would move toward growth and development if its pursuit of empowering lives via innovation reached a completely new level.
“All hands must be on deck to bridge more prevalent gaps in the growth of technology in Africa and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by creating more viable opportunities for income generation, employment, capacity building, improved standards of living and the complete development of the African technology landscape.”
Oseni continued, saying that the bank's ability to assist the expansion of Nigeria's digital ecosystem is due to a special fusion of traditional banking knowledge and technology that is ingrained in the organization's operations.
“We also recognise that any economy that is serious about sustainable economic and social development must pay serious attention to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Entertainment and sports have put Nigeria on the global landscape in a positive light; but they cannot help to predict technology and infrastructure deficits that will see Nigeria achieve its true potential.”
Wema's special combination of traditional banking knowledge and technology positions it to aid and support the development of Nigeria's tech ecosystem, he said, adding that the opportunities at the nexus of finance and technology are too great for any one player to handle.
He states that the goal of Hackaholic is to give innovators and entrepreneurs with game-changing, tech-driven ideas a platform to develop their ideas and hone their craft.
Software developers and other digital producers collaborate on tech initiatives called hackathons to create answers for common problems. Every productive hackathon yields novel and significant solutions that will propel business concepts and push technology forward in the modern day.
“We remain confident that through collaboration we can continue to expand the frontiers of technology, solving our most bedeviling problems as a nation and finally unlocking inclusive and sustainable growth. Our goal as a bank 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 Hackaholics would 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.”
Wema Bank brings together young IT professionals and start-ups through Hackaholics to create digital and computerized solutions that would ease social, institutional, and financial difficulties.
A reputable panel of judges will screen the answers that the participants generated after they analyzed the provided issue areas, strategized, and brainstormed.
Oseni said: “After the successful establishment of ALAT by Wema Bank, we went a step further in our commitment to championing innovation by going beyond simply providing innovative solutions to further empower more people to become innovators in their own rights. This is the birth story of Hackaholics, Wema Bank’s youth & start-up focused initiative aimed at providing a platform for entrepreneurs and innovators with game changing, tech-driven ideas and products, to bring their ideas to life.”
He continued by saying that more than 300,000 Nigerians have used the renowned platform since the launch of Hackaholics in 2019 to hone their tech abilities, present their creative ideas, and turn those ideas into workable solutions that amazingly improve and enhance processes in a variety of spheres of life.
“Four editions strong, Hackaholics have recorded a massive applicant growth rate of 400 percent, creating more opportunities with each edition and seamlessly uniting key players and innovators across Nigeria, to provide ground-breaking sustainable solutions to real-life problems, using technology and innovation.
“Touring over 30 universities nationwide, Hackaholics has become a beacon of hope to young Nigerians across Nigeria; giving them a platform to challenge themselves and do the seemingly impossible.”
Reimagine: Disrupting the ecosystem for scale was the theme of the recently finished fourth Hackaholics event in Lagos, according to Oseni. The innovators were tasked with improving, redefining, and reimagining routine procedures in a variety of facets of human existence.
As per his statement, the mandate to reimagine revolved around ten crucial areas, including education, gender-based violence, insurance, health, climate change, financial inclusion, entertainment, Fintech, Govtech, and Civictech.
“Our young innovators put their tech skills to the test and developed unique solutions across the identified verticals, vying for the recognition of their solutions and a share in the N50,000,000 prize. With a N3,000,000 grant set aside for women-led teams.
Tunde Mabawonku, the executive director, retail and digital business at Wema Bank, said that the Hackaholics Digital Summit transcends boundaries to unite digital innovators, visionaries, and industry leaders from across Nigeria. “It’s all about harnessing the collective potential of start-up founders to redefine the boundaries of what’s possible in the digital age”.
He declares that the topic of this year's Hackaholics captures the spirit of the bank's innovation initiative. It represents our unwavering faith in a world in which change is the only constant. What distinguishes us is our capacity to challenge the status quo and rethink it, Mabawonku stated.
During a keynote speech, Flutterwave's founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, stated that Hackaholics 4.0 might offer significant prospects to entrepreneurs using technology to address regional and worldwide problems.
The statement praised Wema Bank's track record of empowering lives and businesses in a sustainable manner and conveyed appreciation for the bank's continued support of Fintechs and small enterprises in Nigeria.
“The Flutterwave story is incomplete without Wema Bank. Their dedication and passion is inspiring and I say this because I have witnessed the sacrifices and support Wema Bank has given. We have grown sitting on the shoulders of this giant and the symbolic nature of Wema Bank as the infrastructure that not only drives innovation but also provides a platform for new innovations to emerge is second to none. I am excited about the Hackaholics Digital Summit and I conclude by saying this: If you want to go far, go with people.”
Launched in April 2023, the fourth edition of Hackaholics entailed months-long trips to leading Nigerian institutions in order to find and support bright individuals with original ideas.
Through the use of technology, these students were able to work together, develop their abilities, and bring their original ideas to life.
“Over the first few days, finalists received one-of-a-kind executive mentorship from renowned national and global technology corporations like Microsoft, KPMG, Samsung, Paystack, Flutterwave and Dream Space, among others. This equipped them with hands-on insight and prepared them for the Hackaholics 4.0 grand finale pre-pitch,” Oseni said.
The winner was Ireti, a health IT start-up that assists women in managing breast cancer and bridging the gap.
Ireti took home the N15 million cash prize for the best pitched business, as followed by GRIP, a fintech start-up, which came first runner-up with N10 million, and Trakka, which came second runner up with N7 million.
Outsidee also took home the N5 million Women Led Award, which was established to encourage women in technology.
Other winners were MumAlive in the health start-up category, Chao in the e-commerce category, University-X in the edutech category, Naijabox as the best energy start-up, and PUP Industries as the best climate subcategory.
IRETI, GRIP, Trakka, Outsidee, Chao, Raptor, Pup Industries, University-X, Naijabox, and MumAlive are the ten finalists for the Hackaholics 4.0 competition.
The Wema Bank Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Endowment Fund was also awarded to three universities. The amounts are as follows: N10 million for Babcock University, N7 million for Afe Babalola University, and N5 million for Nile University.
Ireti's founder, Jane Agbaohwo, believes her organization has the potential to do even more.
“Going forward we will be able to reach out to women in urban communities and also women in rural communities, we will help them, create awareness about breast cancer – it kills, but you stand a chance to live if you detect early and start treatment on time,” Agbaohwo said after picking the prize
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