Need ₦150M for your business? Apply for Wema Bank Hackaholics 2025
Alan Kay once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
From the beginning, innovation has been the key to unlocking the future, fostering the expansion of imagination. However, imagination is just the starting point of invention, as it needs nurturing through investment to flourish. That’s exactly what Wema Bank, in partnership with ALAT, is committed to providing.
Hackaholics, a highlight of Hackaholics Digital Summit (HADS), is Wema Bank’s open innovation challenge to empower problem-solvers, startups, and tech enthusiasts. The summit is centered around the hackathon, which serves as a dynamic platform for participants to collaborate, compete, and showcase their innovative solutions. This high-energy event encourages teams and individuals to tackle pressing issues in the FinTech space, fostering creativity and technological advancement.
The competition, while designed to bring together the brightest minds in technology, design, and innovation, is also aimed at fostering collaborations in the progress of technology to build groundbreaking digital solutions that address real-world challenges. Wema Bank’s CEO, Moruf Oseni, acquiesced to this when he said, “We’re thrilled that this gathering will unite thousands of exceptional individuals, including innovators, change-makers, industry luminaries, and tech enthusiasts from diverse sectors.”
Since its flagship contest in 2019, HADs has hosted five hackathons—each one better than the last—exploring divergent solutions to FinTech challenges. This competition, dubbed the “Largest Youth-Focused Ideathon in Sub-Saharan Africa,” is still fulfilling its agenda, which is to unite and empower the technology ecosystem to build and launch the next most innovative solution that would come out of the shores of Africa and drive technological advancement.
Hackaholics 6.0
Hackaholics 2025 is set to take a new turn. Not only is the prize bigger at over ₦150M, but the playing stage has also expanded as two new tracks have been introduced to enhance participation.
- The Hackathon—where developers and tech teams build innovative solutions in a fast-paced coding competition.
- The Startup Pitch Competition—a platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their groundbreaking ideas to investors and industry experts.
Objectives of the Event
The challenge areas that applicants are expected to invent solutions for during Hackaholics 6.0 are:
- Fraud detection
- Optimising customer experience
- Onboarding and Acquisition
- Credit management
The program structure is designed to progress through four stages, culminating in the grand finale on Monday, October 6, 2025, to be held at the Grand Ballroom, Oriental Hotel.
The stages include:
- Application Phase: developers, designers, and problem-solvers from across the country can apply to be part of the competition.
- Regional Preliminaries: shortlisted teams will compete in different regions, refining their solutions under mentorship from industry experts.
- Final Day Demo: the best teams from the regional preliminaries will present their solutions to a panel of judges, including top executives and tech leaders.
- Grand Finale: winners receive cash prizes, funding, and mentorship. Outstanding solutions may also be considered for further development with Wema Bank.
There will be pitch centers in strategic locations in Nigeria for interested applicants. The centers are:
- South-West: Lagos, Kwara, Oyo, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo
- South-East: Enugu
- North-West: Kaduna
- North-Central: Abuja
- South-South: Akwa-Ibom and,
- Africa: Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana
Benefits
Besides the cash prize of over ₦150M, other benefits available to winners of the hackathon include:
- Mentorship from industry experts
- Access to Bank APIs and Tech tools
- Recognition and exposure to showcase their innovation to industry leaders
- Internship and job opportunities: a chance to join Wema Bank’s innovation team
- Career and networking opportunities: connect with Wema bank, investors and tech enthusiasts
These and other exciting opportunities await participants, helping them to innovate, grow, and accomplish their goals.
Who can apply
Wema Bank/ALAT believes that everyone is an innate innovator and has decided to give you the chance to prove it. Because of this, the hackathon is designed to be open to everyone. No matter if you’re an inexperienced entrepreneur, a professional business owner, or an undergraduate. Everyone is welcome and can apply.
Applicants can also apply in groups of three, each group having a designated spokesperson for their pitch, while individual applicants are also encouraged.
How to apply for Hackaholics 6.0
To apply for Hackaholics 6.0, simply register for the event on the official website. After registering, visit the pitch center nearest to you to present your pitch.
Are you ready to innovate? Don’t miss your chance—apply for Hackaholics today!
Do you have an innovative business (small, mid-scale business, or startup) that adds value, creates opportunities, or solves bold problems? Then you’ve got a story worth telling? Shoot us an email with SUBJECT “Story Worth Telling (+Name of Business)” to editorial@smepeaks.com