By Ayomide Otitoju
Zenith Bank has injected N140 million into the tech ecosystem through its Zecathon 5.0 initiative, which drew thousands of applications and was attended by the bank’s founder and chairman, Jim Ovia, and Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The 2025 edition introduced a Hackathon track alongside the Startup Pitch Competition. From hundreds of applications, 20 teams of developers and designers were selected for a three-day programme focused on problem-solving and technical execution across key sectors.
Group Managing Director and CEO Adaora Umeoji said the initiative is part of Zenith Bank’s strategy to foster innovation. “Our mission is to empower innovators with the resources and support they need to build ventures that can solve real challenges and accelerate Africa’s digital and economic growth. Zecathon continues to be the platform where ideas are developed into market-ready solutions,” she said.
In the Innovation Hackathon, TrustLoop, a digital KYC and liveness verification solution, won the top prize of N30 million. Finalist teams Konfam, The Very Hacked Men, Zenith IntelliScore, and ZeraX each received N10 million.
The Startup Pitch Competition featured early-stage founders in fintech, edtech, and healthcare. Cubbes, an edtech startup, emerged as the overall winner with a N30 million prize, while finalists Venille, Sowota, Invopay, and Flow were awarded N10 million each.
Fikun Aluko, head of Tech and Entrepreneurship Programs at Beyond Limits Global, highlighted the programme’s collaborative impact, saying, “This edition showed the value of platforms that connect institutions and entrepreneurs. The teams presented solutions with the potential to support digital transformation across Africa.”
