By Mathew Ibiyemi
Zenith Bank has rewarded 11 startups with N38m at its Zenith Tech fair held in Lagos yesterday.
The 2022 Zenith Bank Pitching Competition for the Zenith Techfair Hackathon which officially launched earlier in November is an open call for entrepreneurs in Nigeria with tech-enabled, scalable solutions designed to innovate businesses from different industries.
At this year’s edition, the competition set out to identify promising businesses and support the best startups that are using technology and innovative ideas to help solve the problems of the present to build a better future in the future of wholesale and retail, future of eCommerce, future of payments,future of lending, future of wellness, future of cybersecurity, future of edtech, future of electricity (power vending),future of agri-tech and future of entertainment.
11 of the most promising startups were invited to the pitch competition at the Zenith Tech Fair that held in Lagos.
The top three finalists left with a prize of N15m (Fifteen million Naira), N10m (Ten million Naira) and N5m (Five million Naira) respectively.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, Ebenezer Onyeagwu reiterated Zenith Bank’s commitment growing talents in the technology space.
The GMD also assured all finalists of the banks continued support to upscale their businesses.
According to Ebenezer, “Each of the top five finalists will be entitled to a mentorship with seedstars. All the 11 finalists will be enlisted into the Zenith Incubation lab.”
Lean methodologies and best startup practices will also be taught to the cohort by Seedstars’ internal experts and selected external mentors.
The Zenith Bank Pitching Competition is a collaboration between Zenith Bank and Seedstars with the goal of supporting Nigerian minimum viable product (MVP) stage startups in advancing to the next stage of growth.