Hi-Tech, led by Afolabi Ayanfe and Sophia Ezeh wins FCMB’s hackathon challenge

The inaugural FCMB Hackathon Challenge saw Team Hi-Tech, led by Afolabi Ayanfe and Sophia Ezeh, winning the top prize of N3 million for the creation of the digital financial solution, Padi4Life.

A partnership with Ingressive For Good (I4G), the hackathon launched a new cohort of techies and fostered innovation and creative problem-solving.
With over 2,900 entries and 60 competing teams participating in a 72-hour hackathon, Team Hi-Tech’s Padi4Life made the final shortlist. It stood out for its peer-to-peer lending, asset tokenisation and blockchain-based investment and engagement features.

Rita Onwudiwe and Augustus Shaminga of Team KoloPadi secured the N1 million first runner-up prize for their KoloPadi solution. The second runner-up prize of N500,000 went to Victor Tochukwu of Team Xperia for its Money Minder solution.

The total prize allocation was N4.5 million. Each competing Team had five members, with some dropping off.

Yet, resilient members like Victor of Team Xperia were undeterred and made the final shortlist as a one-person team.

The Team Lead of Hi-Tech expressed gratitude to FCMB, saying: “Padi4Life is designed to build a community of trusted financial partners, meeting the needs of Nigerians.”

Divisional Head of Transaction Banking at FCMB, Rolayo Akhigbe, stressed the bank’s commitment to innovation through open banking. She urged fintechs, developers and start-ups to utilise FCMB’s application programming interface (API) to develop inclusive and sustainable solutions.