Healthtech, Ireti, wins N15m at Wema Bank’s Hackaholics 4.0

Jane Agbaohwo, the founder of Ireti, a healthtech business, has emerged the winner of Wema Bank’s Hackaholics 4.0, winning N15 million cash prize.

At the grand finale ceremony held in Lagos on Friday, Agbaohwo, a medical student, competed with nine other contestants, pitching her business, a technology devised product to detect breast cancer in its early stage.

Also the first runner up, Nelson Atuonwu, representing Team Grip was presented with a cash prize of N10 million, while the second runner up, Oluwatimilehin Ogunme for Team Trakka got N7 million.

Tochukwu Ifeanyi of Team Outsidee, having won the women-led initiative, was also presented with N5 million cash award, while climate tech award was given to Bonojo Adedayo of Pup Industries, edutech award was given to Damilare Ololade of University x, energy to Ifeanyichukwu Henry of Raptor; energy tech to David Campbell of Team Naija Box, health award to Olukayode Fadairo of Team MumAlive, and e-commerce award was presented to Gift Akobundu of Team Chao.

On Thursday last week, the 10 students from universities across the country emerged finalists at the hackaholics pre-pitch, where 25 contestants from over 3,000 applicants pitched compelling creative ideas for impactful solutions that would ease struggles across 10 different areas of human life: education, climate, govtech, health, gender-based violence, financial inclusion, entertainment, fintech, insurance and civictech.

Speaking at the pre-pitch, Solomon Ayodele, Head, Innovation and Emerging Technologies, Wema Bank, noted that the essence of pre-pitch that saw 10 emerged from 25 finalist was to help the finalists refine their pitches through rigorous training as the bank aims to bring out the best for the grand finale.

According to him, over N50 million cash prize would be distributed across five categories. The winner of the hackaholic gets N15 million, first runner-up gets N10 million, second runner-up gets N7 million, while N5 million is reserved for any female-led team to encourage more women to key into tech, while N22 million will be disbursed in university STEM endowments.

Femi Awoniyi, Startup Fund Manager at Google, stated that the innovations provided by the contestants were amazing as they proffered solutions, while noting that the hackholic summit, apart from giving much needed capital to the winners, would serve as catalyst for others to come out with their own innovations.

Awoniyi, a member of the panel of judges at the pre-pitch noted that the contestants will be judged based on numbers of criteria, ranging from the strength of the team, sound business model and the propensity for scale, among others.

Another judge, Rosemond Phil-Odhihiwa, a startup attorney and corporate consultant noted that one of the key things that the panel is particular about is innovation as the theme of the hackaholic portrays.

“So, we are looking for viability, innovation and capacity to scale,” she said.

Hackaholics is Wema Bank’s youth and start-up focused initiative designed to provide a platform for young innovators with game changing, tech-driven ideas and products to bring their creative ideas to life, hone their skills and gain a competitive edge in the global technology and digital space.

Since its launch in 2019, Hackaholics has toured the six geo-political zones in Nigeria including 37 universities across Africa, sourcing creative undergraduate students, youth and start-ups, challenging them to innovate and create practical solutions to real-life problems using technology.

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