The third edition of the Zenith Bank Tech Fair, themed “Future Forward 3.0,” concluded at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, on November 24, 2023.
The highlight of the event was the Zenith Hackathon (Zecathon), where over 500 contestants showcased their technological prowess. The overall winner, Sync, a team collaboration and workflow management platform, secured the grand prize of N20 million and a mentorship program with Seedstars.
Skill Up With Kahdsole (SUWK), a social-tech startup empowering young people with end-to-end platforms for learning technical and vocational skills, claimed the first runner-up position, winning N15 million and a mentorship program with Seedstars. The second runner-up, Tribapay, a payment processing gateway facilitating cross-border payments and transactions in Nigeria and Ghana, received N10 million and a mentorship program with Seedstars. Other finalists, including Edupoint, Joovlin, Frootify, Izesan Limited, Natal Cares, Plychain.io, and Niteon, each received N2 million.
Delivering his welcome address, Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, expressed his excitement for the Hackathon, highlighting it as the high point of the overall event. He emphasized the importance of showcasing the immense creativity and talent of the youth, anticipating even more elaborate future editions.
He said:
“We have deliberately kept the best for the last. The high point of today’s event is the Hackathon. This is where we have the opportunity to see the immense creativity and talent in our youth as they come up with different innovative ideas.” He added that “the good thing about the Hackathon is that the pitches you see presented are completely different from the ones we have seen before and we intend to make it far more elaborate as we hope that as we go into the future, we should be able to bring back winners where they can tell the audience their journey and how they have progressed so far.”
The two-day Tech Fair garnered praise from participants, featuring presentations on cutting-edge technological innovations across various sectors. The event covered topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Contactless Payments, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, FinTech, Data Analytics, Financial Intelligence, and communication technologies. Chris Lu, the Managing Director for Huawei Technologies, Nigeria, delivered the keynote address on “Artificial Intelligence – Application & Bias.”
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Eminent speakers from top global brands, including Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, Visa West Africa, CBN, McKinsey Digital, and Microsoft, shared insights during the fair. Panel sessions explored themes such as “Digital Wallets, Contactless Payments, and BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later)” and “The Intersection of Fintech, eCommerce, and SMEs – Collaboration for Growth.”
The Zenith Bank Tech Fair 2023 demonstrated the bank’s commitment to fostering innovation, providing a platform for young talents, and contributing to the advancement of technology in Nigeria. The success of Sync and other participants underscores the thriving tech ecosystem and the potential for transformative solutions emerging from such events.