Squad Hackathon 3.0: How GTCO’s HabariPay is Cultivating Africa’s Next Tech Titans
By Azeez Disu
“The world is not ruled by extroverts; it is ruled by thinkers,” declared Segun Agbaje, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO).
The GTCO boss made the above quote as he addressed a room brimming with Nigeria’s most promising young minds. This sentiment set the stage for the grand finale of the Squad Hackathon 3.0, held at the GTCentre, where the air was thick with the scent of coffee, the hum of servers, and the palpable energy of innovation.
Organised by HabariPay Ltd, GTCO’s fintech subsidiary, the social coding event has become a cornerstone of the group’s mission to foster creativity and problem-solving among emerging tech talents, positioning itself at the vital intersection of finance, technology, and enterprise.
The ambition for this third edition was unprecedented, attracting over 1,600 applications from across Nigerian universities. Eduofon Japhet, Managing Director of HabariPay Ltd, noted that this year marked the most ambitious iteration yet, with participation increasing tenfold compared to previous years.
“We realised there is still a gap between classroom theory and practical problem-solving,” Japhet explained. “This platform is designed to help students build real-world solutions using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and smart systems”.
This gap was bridged through intensive coding marathons, technical assessments, and live demonstrations, where participants leveraged Squad’s advanced APIs to tackle everyday challenges faced by African businesses.
At the heart of this digital transformation stood Team ‘Block X’ from Obafemi Awolowo University, who emerged as the overall winners, clinching the N5 million prize. Their winning solution, Guild, is an AI-powered platform designed to integrate informal labour into the formal financial system. The genius of Guild lies in its simplicity and accessibility; for instance, an informal worker such as a bricklayer can call “Tola,” a Nigerian English voice agent, to be matched with a job. Once the job is completed and payment is processed through Squad, the worker begins to build a verifiable financial record. Within 90 days, this record can enable access to traditional banking services and credit, effectively providing a financial identity to the previously invisible.
The innovation on display extended far beyond the winners’ podium. Sherif Sani, a Computer Science student from the University of Lagos, showcased Tracker, an AI-powered productivity platform designed to help employers verify work done by remote or on-site teams. Sani explained that the system tracks browser activity and performs AI analysis to ensure legitimacy, while respecting privacy through transparent terms and conditions. “It feels nice and accomplishing to see myself go through the rounds,” Sani remarked, reflecting on the challenging nature of the competition. His solution addresses a critical need for trust in the evolving remote-work landscape of Nigeria.
For many participants, the hackathon was as much a test of character as it was of technical skill. Moses Adache, lead of Team Sapphire from Zaria, shared a harrowing journey of missed flights and car trouble, only to spend the night building at the airport. Despite these hurdles and the pressure of ongoing university exams, he remained undeterred.
“The experience has built courage, resilience, and confidence that the industry actually needs,” Adache stated. His team’s project—an agricultural e-commerce platform using AI to ensure ‘what you see is what you get’—aims to solve trust issues in the Nigerian agricultural ecosystem. Similarly, Victory of Team Code Flex, who travelled from Kaduna to present a USSD-based system for financial visibility, emphasised the broader purpose: “It is not just about winning; it is about how you think and building something that has an impact”.
The impact of GTCO and HabariPay extends far beyond the duration of the hackathon. Through this initiative, the group is building a long-term talent pipeline. “We are not stopping at the competition,” Eduofon Japhet emphasised, noting that HabariPay is developing mentorship programmes and tuition assistance to support these young innovators. “Some of these participants will work with us directly over the next few years through structured mentorship and hands-on development programmes”.
As the curtains fell on the Squad Hackathon 3.0, the message from Segun Agbaje resonated deeply with the over 500 finalists:
“You are the best of the best. Everybody who made it into this room today is already a winner”.
By providing the infrastructure—through Squad’s APIs—and the platform for these “thinkers” to excel, GTCO is not merely hosting a competition; it is actively shaping the future of digital transformation in Africa, ensuring that the next generation of innovators has the tools to turn their ideas into reality.