Teams Techies, Prodigies, Tap & Go Win FSI Campus Innovation Challenge

Teams Techies, Prodigies and Tap & Go have emerged winners in the maiden edition of the FSI Cashless Campus Innovation Challenge held virtually on Friday, July 21, 2023.

Financial Services Innovators (FSI), a non-profit organisation committed to discovering tech talents in tertiary institutions and enabling start-ups within the technology and financial services space, organised the hackathon challenge.

The Cashless Campus Innovation Challenge is aimed at proffering solutions to digitize micropayments in tertiary institutions and their environs, including cashless transportation, cashless commerce, etc.

Team Techies defeated 10 other contestants to emerge as the winner, smiling to the bank with N100,000 while Teams Prodigies and Tap & Go emerged as the 1st and 2nd runners-up respectively.

The teams that emerged first in each participating school also went home with N100,000 each, a certificate of participation and internship opportunities.

However, all the finalists’ teams were given a slot each to attend the FSIs business incubation programme.

Team Techies, which represented Al-Qalam University, Katsina, won with QRide, an innovative campus trip-booking app for students, staff and other residents.

Team Prodigies, also from Al-Qalam University, Katsina, pitched an app, Macco, aimed at providing faster payments and easy transactions for students and others on campus, using the students registration number as a unique identifier for processing transactions; while Team Tap & Go presented an app that authenticates individuals with their biometrics to effect payment for seamless transactions without cards or individuals mobile phones on campus.

Other winners of the competition are Teams Jafos, Cool Nerds, Bytecode, Cyberbros, WireMe, Painkil and Iconic Codes.

According to the Executive Director, FSI, Dr Aituaz Kola-Oladejo, the cashless campus innovation challenge has shown that Nigeria is blessed with a minefield of talents, which is yet to be harnessed.

Until we harness this minefield of talents, we cannot change the narrative of Africa. I want to appreciate our partners, MFS Africa, Future Africa, Flourish Ventures, and most especially, Mr Iyin Aboyeji, chairman, FSIs Board of Trustees, for their support. I also thank our judges, Eniola Boluogun, Binta Moustapha, and Salami Abolore for taking time out of their busy schedules to support this initiative, she said.

In his keynote address, Mr Aniedi Udo-Obong, a US-based Nigerian Program Manager and Software Developer with Google, counseled the participants that ideating is the next big thing, therefore the students should continue to innovate and not rest on their oars.

“Don’t rely on your mental capability alone, ask for help. Use all resources available to you. Know the depth of the problem with the technology available to you. Do not run away from problems because money and value flow to where solutions are proffered, he stated.

Moderated by Derek Nwafor, the Campus Cashless Innovation Challenge had 67 teams comprising 130 students drawn from six higher institutions spread across the country.

They include Mountain Top University (MTU), Lagos; University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka; Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife; Al-Qalam University, Katsina; Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Owerri, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.