World’s leader in digital
payments, Visa, has announced three winners from the just concluded Cashless
Lagos Hackathon in partnership with Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF),
reports ITREALMS.
The finalists emerged
after a three-day hacking boot camp hosted at the Vibranium Valley in Lagos.
The winning solutions beat three other contenders to emerge as champions.
Blended won the grand
prize of N2 million with its solution that allows merchants get validation of
transactions via USSD with mobile phone numbers as User pass and
authentication. Maverick took the second positon of N1million with a
mobile-based solution that allows merchant pay in advance for services,
schedule appointments, while also helping them keep track of their payment
inventories.
The third prizewinner
LagosPay developed a solution that collects payments electronically, by
leveraging already existing payment channels, and incentivizing payments with
rewards and points, clinching a N500,000 reward in the process. The grants will
be used for the development of the solutions, courtesy of Visa.
Speaking at the event,
Kemi Okusanya, General Manager, Visa West Africa, expressed Visa’s deep
commitment in ensuring that merchants have access to innovative technologies to
make and receive payments. Kemi said: “We constantly strive to reduce reliance
on cash, and encourage the development of a digital payments ecosystem for both
individuals and businesses. I am very impressed with the quality of solutions
developed by these teams and look forward to seeing them adopted by businesses across
Nigeria”.
Also speaking,
Akintunde Oyebode, the Executive Secretary LSETF, said: “I am pleased with the
winning teams and the possibility of using these solutions to solve payment
issues experienced by small businesses. If we are able to help businesses
optimize payments and grow, it will not only improve the State’s economy, but
also create new jobs.
Lagos Innovates will
continue to build platforms that develop homegrown technology solutions usable
in Nigeria and beyond. I will like to thank our partner, Visa; and other
implementation partners, Passion Incubator and Venture Garden Group. This
hackathon further demonstrates how partnerships between Government and socially
responsible companies can spur development and create double or triple bottom
line impact.”
The hackathon hosted
an array of Nigerian software developers, programmers, coders, data specialists
and designers who developed technology-based financial solutions to allow MSMEs
make and receive payments, make bulk purchases and keep transaction inventory.
Ayo Midele/GEE
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