WorldStage Newsonline– A payment unit of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Momo Payment Service Bank (PSB), has awarded the sum of $10,000 to three young innovators for their unique innovation at its hackathon.
The innovators were awarded the money at the MoMo Hackathon event in Lagos with the theme: ‘Innovative Financial and Transactional Applications’.
The first prize winner, Oluwapelumi Yusuf, RovaPay, went home with $5,000, while Marvis Igbokwe and Favour Ajie, MoMoCash emerged second, winning $3,000.
The third prize of $2,000 was won by Isaac Odinaka, Clinic Plus, while the fourth runner up, Market Padi and the fifth, Vasacom went home with tool kits.
The Chief Executive Officer of Alvative, Mr IK Obi, one of the judges, while presenting the winners, said what singled out the overall winner was his innovation and impactful pitch.
Obi said the criteria for selecting the winners ranged from creativity, impact, implementation of the idea, general design, coding language to the people-friendly nature of their innovations.
He said the main attraction of almost all the judges to the overall winner was the fact that the app was like MoMo Lite, to be used by many people for things that would ordinarily require data.
‘’The second place winner is marked out by the possibility of the engagement that the product would bring to MoMo outside the transaction which is something that is very important.
‘’The third place winner’s innovation which is the clinic app is a very obvious solution to a known problem, talking to people to fund health care.
‘’We are celebrating creativity, innovation and talent, it is a testament that Nigeria’s youths are using technology to solve problems in Nigeria.
‘’After a whole day presentation by the 20 pitchers and careful deliberations by the judges, we came up with five winners and 12 of them for Pan-Africa grand finale”, he said.
Obi, while congratulating the participants, said the ideas were great and innovative, noting that mentorship would be made available by the MoMo team anytime it is needed.
The Manager, Corporate Account, MoMo PSB, Mr Obed Esejowho, in his welcome address described FinTech as a new era that shape a financial ingenuity.
Esejowho said that collaboration was key to driving innovation and hackathons were more than a competition but platforms for collaboration and co-creation.
The winner, Oluwapelumi Yusuf with the judges
The winner, Yusuf, a freelance developer while appreciating Momo said he would want to form a strategic partnership with MoMo with the goal of supporting financial inclusion.
‘’Thank you for this privilege; this is giving me a good lead and I am grateful to God,” he said.
Also, Igbokwe, a 200 level student of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, University of Lagos, Team Lead MoMoCash, the second prize winner expressed her excitement.
“It was while my partner and I were presenting that I found out the uniqueness of my innovation, and how to present MoMo to the community regarding acceptance, engagement and proper daily sage.
”I am still in a frenzy for the whole winning because everyone that came to pitch have very good ideas,” she said.
She said that she would first fund her education from her prize money and being a creative and innovative person, later support her business.
Igbokwe, however, appreciated the MoMo team for the opportunity and hoped that the hackathons would achieve the desired results.
The hackathons witnessed 20 innovators who made presentations on innovations ranging from healthcare delivery, e-commerce, logistics and FinTech, among others.
