Organised by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) in partnership with GIZ, and facilitated by Financial Services Innovators (FSI), a total of 67 teams (209 participants) registered for the Ideathon-Hackathon, which included four pre-submission webinars by industry experts to support teams in developing relevant solutions.

The participating teams took on the challenge of developing creative and innovative ideas, and minimum viable products (MVPs) that addressed one of the broad objectives and thematic areas such as Financial Management Skills Development, Digitised Credit Appraisal and Lending System, MSME Product Design Toolkit, and Alternative Collateral Options. 

A panel of six judges reviewed the ideas developed by the teams. Winners were selected based on the quality of the MVPs, innovativeness, scalability, and potential impact on the economy.

Following numerous evaluation rounds, the selected top 3 winning teams are: Team Bethel, which emerged as the winning team in the competition, comprised of Dara Olabampe and Ogheneakpobo Oghoro. The team won a cash prize of N3 million.

Team Bethel’s MVP, E-GET-DEBT is an app that enables microlending among MSMEs, as lenders and merchants alike can digitally access the credit worthiness of potential borrowers and log their loan history through an online and offline mode. It creates a credit history for micro and nano MSMEs even within their community, and enhances their chances of accessing loans from financial services providers.

Team Astra finished in 2nd place, comprising Nnaemeka Eziamaka and Michael Eziamaka. The team won the sum of N2 million. Team Astra’s MVP is an app that allows an individual or a group of farmers to use their produce/grain as a form of collateral – Grain-Receipt.

Team Esusu, which included AbdulAzeez Oguntoyinbo, Emmanuel Asaolu, Joseph Ashogbon, Oluwaseun Omale, and Ifeanyi Maduagwu came third, winning the sum of N1 million. Team Esusu’s MVP is a digital thrift and credit system designed for MSMEs to access microcredit, leveraging regular thrift savings schemes to build their creditworthiness and validating KYC data towards enhancing the delivery of digital financial services to the last mile.

In his remarks at the event, the Chief Executive Officer, EFInA, Mr. Isaiah Owolabi, expressed gratitude to GIZ and FSI, the implementing partner, as well as the developers and general participants. According to him, addressing the access to finance barriers MSMEs will have a productive impact on the Nigerian economy, tackling some of the economic issues.

On the other hand, Markus Wauschkuhn, the Cluster Coordinator, Sustainable Economic Development Cluster (SEDEC) and Head of Programme, Pro-Poor Growth, and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria – SEDIN, GIZ, congratulated the winners of the Ideathon-Hackathon. He stated that the winning solutions when implemented would help break some of the limiting barriers MSMEs face thereby enabling the sector to deliver more gains to the nation.

The MSME Finance… Breaking Barriers Ideathon-Hackathon showcased Nigeria’s potential for developing homegrown solutions that promote microbusiness financing from formal financial service providers in Nigeria.

EFInA/GIZ acknowledged the efforts of all participants, particularly the top 16 teams – Sanwopay, Techmenders, Grader Tech, Pacify, Astra, GodhandX, Esusu, Lamuni, Windscope, Rootech Solutions, Sleek, Athens, Fleek, Bethel, and Include Me – that developed interesting ideas and MVPs with the potential to enable microenterprises to thrive.

A representative from the winning team expressed immense gratitude to the organisers of the hackathon for the opportunity to showcase their creativity and innovative prowess in the bid to address some of the plaguing issues hindering MSMEs in Nigeria.

The SMEDAN/NBS 2020 Survey reports that the Nigerian MSME sector has about 39.7m businesses and contributes 46.3% to the National GDP, equally accounting for 87.9% percent of employment. The sector has huge potential that is yet to be maximized because of several impeding challenges such as access to finance.

This is coming through a virtual hackathon challenge themed: ‘MSME Finance…Breaking Barriers’.

The Nigerian MSME sector (about 39.7m businesses) plays a huge role in the economy, contributing to 46.3% of the National GDP, and equally accounting for 87.9% percent of employment.

The potential of the MSME sector is yet to be maximized because of several impending challenges some of which this Hackathon is expected to address.

Interested participants must be 18 years old and should register on the portal on or before August 1, 2022. 

The hackathon competition will kick off with four webinars commencing from July 28 to August 1, 2022, and will be facilitated by industry experts. At the end of the registration, outstanding candidates will be shortlisted to participate in the hackathon, either as a team of two or a maximum of five people. 

However, switching of teams will not be allowed. All participants will be required to take on the challenge of developing creative and innovative ideas, and MVPs that address at least one of the broad objectives of the Hackathon.

While the teams are expected to develop technological applications to solve real-life problems in suburban communities, the hackathon challenge aims at addressing at least one of the thematic areas including Financial Management Skills Development, Digitised Credit Appraisal and Lending System, MSME Product Design Toolkit, and Alternative Collateral Options.

They are also expected to pitch their innovative ideas virtually to a panel of judges on August 31, 2022. Criteria for judging the entries include Product design (30%) Innovativeness (30%), Scalability (30%) and Presentation (10%). The winner of the challenge stands to win N3 million; 1st runner-up, N2 million; and 2nd runner-up, N1 million.

Speaking on the hackathon, the Chief Executive Officer, EFInA, Mr Owolabi Isaiah, said he is excited to introduce the virtual hackathon challenge. In his words: “Despite the proliferation of credit providers in Nigeria – both regulated and non-regulated – the financing gap for MSMEs has widened due to several issues like inability to fulfil requirements (financial records, collateral), manual/rigid credit reporting system, high default rate, manual KYC verification process, lack of financial management skills, and lack of market linkages etc. 

Therefore, it has become imperative to facilitate an inclusive financial system that seamlessly avails credit to MSMEs irrespective of their size of operations, category and availability of traditional collateral requirements to boost the economy, reduce poverty levels, and provide job opportunities.”

To ensure the goals of the hackathon challenge are achieved, EFInA and GIZ are working closely with Financial Services Innovators (FSI).

How to participate

Interested in the hackathon? Click Here to visit the registration portal.