Team Ballers has emerged overall winner of the inaugural PayAza Fintech Hackathon, held between December 21-22, 2022.
Team Ballers; who proposed a payment platform that could allow digital payment without internet service, claimed first prize to win the grand prize of $2000. Amongst the team include, Ishaya Solomon, Osato Frederick, Ibukunoluwa Fetubo, etc.
The hackathon-themed ” Rethinking Payments: Driving Financial Innovations Towards Customers’ Satisfaction” featured participants of varied professional backgrounds competing in teams to seek a payment solution that will ease customers’ experience.
Participants were grouped into five teams on Day 1 and were tasked with building an innovation that solves a business case for the grand prize of $2,000. Each group was assigned a mentor to help them through the challenge and received guidelines and some PayAza APIs to facilitate their ideas.
Team members bonded immediately and set to work on presenting a feasible, scalable, and profitable innovation before a panel of judges the next day.
On Day 2, participants continued to work on their innovations before presenting to a panel of judges, which included Tomilola Majekodunmi, CEO Bankly; Niyi Kolade, CEO; Seerbit, Bukola Bankole, Partner TNC; Kayode Fadunhsi. CEO Prosperis Holdings; Williams Fatayo, CEO Truq; and Adetola Nola, Founder and CEO, Veritas.
Judges implored participants to seek solutions in the fintech space, especially in the payments sector. There could be more improvements in the payments sector as vendors and customers still face issues that affect businesses, while the payment process could also be made more convenient. Normal bank payments may take up to five steps before they are executed, while they could be done in two steps or less. Also, issues of delayed and declined transfers persist.
The five teams presented the innovations they came up with on day one, impressing judges and spectators alike. One team proposed a system to make NFC payments more effortless, and another presented an idea to enable voice and facial recognition as security measures.
Another team proposed a platform that fosters trust between vendors and customers by simplifying payments and holding funds in escrow until a customer is satisfied with the vendor’s goods and services.
The judges asked questions and provided advice to help the participants’ innovations. Participants were also informed that all ideas were innovative and outstanding and everybody was a winner. The partnerships and experience acquired are worth more than any monetary prize.
At the end of the hackathon, Philips Akinyele, the Co-founder of PayAza, expressed his delight at the innovations presented and the dedication to its success. He also appreciated the efforts and manpower that ensured the hackathon was successful.
In his words on the inaugural PayAza Fintech Hackathon:
“This is Hackathon 1.0 for PayAza, next year will be bigger, and it will be packed. As we mentioned, we are hoping to launch PayAza university very soon. so expect a lot from us in 2023.
They want to be successful, and you could see that energy in all of them. More importantly, everybody is a winner, despite a very limited time, all teams were able to bring awesome presentations, and that is my favourite part of it.
This is Hackathon 1.0, next year will be bigger and better, and PayAza university will help solve many unique problems in the payment space and, more importantly, in building the tech ecosystem around PayAza going from 2023.
“We want to help the youths become independent and build tech skills, and that is what PayAza wants to do, so expect that from us in 2023.”
