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Chao and VOC AI emerged first-place winners at the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0, Wema Bank’s flagship innovation competition, as the bank disbursed N120 million in cash prizes to the top nine teams.
The winners were announced at the Hackaholics 6.0 Grand Finale held in Lagos on December 19, 2025. Chao clinched the top prize in the Ideathon category, while VOC AI emerged winner of the Hackathon segment.
Chao, an engine designed to help food vendors work smarter and scale effortlessly, secured N25 million as the Ideathon winner. VOC AI, a Voice of Customer SDK that converts everyday notifications into real-time feedback touchpoints, claimed first place in the Hackathon category.
Other Ideathon winners include Varsity Scape, which placed second with N20 million; Farmslate, third with N15 million; Sane AI, fourth with N5 million; and Fertitude, which won the Women-Led Category, also taking home N5 million.
In the Hackathon category, Illumitrust finished second with N15 million, Fix Fraud AI placed third with N10 million, while Rapid Dev came fourth, winning N5 million.
Congratulating the winners, Moruf Oseni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank, urged Nigerian youths to embrace innovation and channel their creativity productively, while reaffirming the bank’s long-standing commitment to youth empowerment through technology. “For 8 decades, we have stood as Nigeria’s longest surviving indigenous bank, waded market storms, adapted to countless disruptions, transformed alongside our nation over the decades, and spearheaded innovation in banking,” Oseni said.
“With Hackaholics, we decided to go beyond being innovators to becoming the bank that empowers innovators even from as early as their undergraduate years. We recognise that the future of this continent will be built on the bedrock of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which is why our dedication to youth and STEM education is more than just CSR; it is a strategic imperative that we do not compromise on,” he added.
Providing insights into the scale of the 2025 edition, Oseni disclosed that Hackaholics 6.0 recorded a dramatic surge in participation.
“For Hackaholics 6.0, we toured eight campuses, received over 11,000 high-quality applications compared to 2024’s 2,300 applications, and directly engaged over 2,000 participants in regional pitch sessions,” he said.
“The year-on-year increase in applications shows that Hackaholics has grown beyond being a competition; it is a thriving national ecosystem for problem solvers,” Oseni noted, adding that Wema Bank would continue to support innovators turning African challenges into impactful solutions.
Since its launch in 2019, Hackaholics has disbursed over $300,000 in funding to youth and startup innovators across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, including ₦75 million to women-led teams in 2023 and 2024, underscoring Wema Bank’s deliberate push for inclusion in tech and innovation.
Through Hackaholics and other youth-focused initiatives, Wema Bank continues to advance its mission of Empowering Lives Through Innovation.
