Bank Opens Entries For Hackaholics, Fourth Edition Application

Wema Bank Plc has opened entries for the application for its fourth edition tech talent discovery and nurturing project for young Nigerians, Hackaholics 4.0.

The bank’s Executive Director, Digital and Retail Business, Tunde Mabawonku, made the announcement, stating that Hackaholics was at the heart of the bank’s innovative project for start-ups, just as it redefined experiential banking with ALAT.

Hackaholics 4.0 is focusing on building finance beyond technology, with entries expected to come up with innovative solutions to solve non-finance issues such as government, agriculture, gender violence and how to promote entertainment, among others.

The bank’s Chief Digital Officer, Olusegun Adeniyi, noted that the bank has successfully disrupted the digital banking ecosystem by producing the first digital bank and creating unique experiential banking with ALAT. The bank aims to become an ecosystem of platforms, a hub for fintech and other players, and move to the next phase of digital unbundling.

The Banks’ Head of Innovation, Solomon Ayodele, said six universities would be covered this year as against three last year.

The universities are Babcock University, Lagos State University, University of Abuja, University of Benin, Federal University of Technology (Akure) and the University of Lagos.

“We would partner with Microsoft garage, AWS for start-up (Amazon) and Endeavour Africa in facilitating incubation sessions. Applicants should submit entries containing the name of their solution, a vertical, summary of their solution, competitors, target customers, team formation, capital investment management, and leadership,” Solomon added.