Wema Bank distributed N300 million in funding to 11 winning teams at the Hackaholics 7.0 Grand Finale in Lagos, capping a competition that attracted 5,329 participants across seven pitch centres and generated 1,632 ideas and solutions. The event, themed "Festival of the Future," showcased innovations addressing challenges across agriculture, healthcare, education, environmental sustainability and accessibility, with 59 participants advancing to later stages and 21 finalists selected through multi-stage evaluation.
The overall winner, Tony Niteon Nwose of Niteon, received N60 million for an agricultural technology solution designed to connect African farmers with international buyers, processors and financial services. Other major award recipients included Craft Planet, which won N40 million in the Social Impact category for transforming plastic waste into sustainable building materials; SocialSign, awarded N30 million for technology improving communication and inclusion for people with hearing impairments; and Harthio, which received N20 million for proactive mental wellness support. Additional winners addressed healthcare through solutions such as MamaAlert and Neural Forge, alongside innovations in education, dispute resolution, customer intelligence and assistive technology.
The competition specifically recognised women-led solutions through a dedicated category, with MamaAlert and URI among the recognised initiatives. This recognition reflects an effort to widen participation in the technology ecosystem at a time when access to funding and opportunity remains challenging for women innovators. The breadth of solutions across the different categories demonstrated that innovation is taking shape across multiple areas of need within Nigeria's economy.
Hackaholics has operated since 2019, with the initiative recording more than 21,000 applicants to date, engaging over 50,000 participants and supporting more than 10,000 startups across three countries while contributing to the development of over 100 solutions. The programme reflects Wema Bank's broader commitment to digital innovation, which includes the introduction of ALAT in 2017. The bank's decision to extend its innovation ambition beyond its own products to support entrepreneurs addressing wider economic challenges underscores the role established businesses can play in creating pathways for emerging talent to access capital, expertise and opportunity.
For savers, borrowers, business owners and investors in Nigeria, this initiative demonstrates how financial institutions are channelling resources to support entrepreneurship and innovation across the economy, potentially creating new solutions to longstanding problems in agriculture, healthcare and other sectors. The real test for these ventures will come as they refine products, reach customers and demonstrate that their solutions can deliver value at scale in the months and years ahead.