Team ‘Block X’ has emerged winner of the HabariPay Squad Hackathon 3.0, following a fiercely contested innovation showcase organised by HabariPay, the fintech subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc.
This is with the aim to spotlight Nigeria’s next generation of software developers, engineers and artificial intelligence innovators.
The grand finale, held at the GTCentre, featured technology-driven solutions focused on addressing economic and social challenges through artificial intelligence, automation, productivity systems and digital inclusion.
The winning team, made up of Treasure Uvietobore, a Platform and Systems Engineer; Naheem Olaide, a Frontend and Machine Learning Developer; and Enoch Idowu, an AI and Machine Learning Engineer — all from Obafemi Awolowo University — impressed judges with “Guild,” an AI-powered platform designed to bridge informal labour with the formal financial system.
The platform connects informal workers with employers while integrating them into financial services infrastructure. In one use case demonstrated during the competition, a bricklayer interacts with “Tola,” the platform’s Nigerian English voice agent, receives a job match, completes the assignment, and gets paid through Squad.
The system then builds a verifiable transaction history capable of supporting access to banking services and credit facilities within 90 days.
Now in its third edition, the competition drew more than 1,600 applications from students and young innovators across Nigerian universities, reflecting the growing momentum within the country’s expanding technology ecosystem.
Organisers disclosed that over 600 applicants were shortlisted based on technical competence, team structure and GitHub portfolio submissions, while more than 500 participants advanced to the grand finale stage.
Speaking during the event, Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Segun Agbaje, described the hackathon as a platform aimed at nurturing future technology leaders through practical problem-solving.
“You are the best of the best. Everybody who made it into this room today is already a winner,” Agbaje said. “The world is not ruled by extroverts; it is ruled by thinkers.”
He stressed the importance of resilience, collaboration and ethical execution in building successful technology-driven enterprises.
Managing Director of HabariPay, Eduofon Japhet, noted that this year’s edition recorded the highest level of participation since the competition began, with entries increasing more than tenfold compared to previous editions.
“We realised there is still a gap between classroom theory and practical problem-solving,” Japhet said. “This platform is designed to help students build real-world solutions using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and smart systems.”
She added that HabariPay plans to establish a long-term mentorship and talent development pipeline to support selected participants through training, tuition support and potential employment opportunities.
“We are not stopping at the competition,” she said. “Some of these participants will work with us directly over the next few years through structured mentorship and hands-on development programmes.”
Among other notable innovations showcased at the event was “Tracker,” an AI-powered workforce productivity monitoring platform developed by Sherif Sani, a Computer Science student of University of Lagos.
The solution uses artificial intelligence to analyse workflow patterns, browser activity and task completion timelines for both remote and on-site teams while incorporating privacy-focused monitoring features.
The event also featured coding marathons, live product demonstrations, technical assessments and networking sessions, with participating teams evaluated on creativity, scalability, user impact and execution capability.
Organisers said the HabariPay Squad Hackathon 3.0 reinforces the commitment of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and HabariPay to driving innovation, strengthening talent development and positioning Nigeria as a leading digital economy hub in Africa.
