HabariPay, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc Fintech subsidiary has announced Team ‘Block X’ as the winner of the Squad Hackathon 3.0, following a highly competitive innovation showcase that brought together some of Nigeria’s most promising young software developers, engineers and AI innovators.
Held at the GTCentre, the grand finale featured cutting-edge technology solutions aimed at addressing critical economic and societal challenges, with a strong focus on artificial intelligence, automation, productivity systems and digital inclusion.
Team ‘Block X’, comprising of Treasure Uvietobore (Platform & Systems Engineer), Naheem Olaide (Frontend & Machine Learning Developer) and Enoch Idowu (AI & Machine Learning Engineer) from Obafemi Awolowo University emerged winners after impressing judges with Guild, an AI-powered platform designed to bridge informal labour with the formal financial system.
The solution connects informal workers to employers and integrates them into financial services infrastructure. In a typical use case, a bricklayer calls “Tola,” the platform’s Nigerian English voice agent, gets matched to a job opportunity, completes the assignment, and receives payment through Squad. Over time, consistent transactions generate a verifiable financial record that enables access to banking services and credit within 90 days.
Now in its third edition, the competition attracted more than 1,600 applications from students and young innovators across Nigerian universities, reflecting growing momentum in the country’s fast-evolving technology ecosystem. More than 600 applicants were shortlisted based on technical competence, team structure and GitHub portfolio submissions, while over 500 participants progressed to the grand finale.
Speaking at the event, Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Segun Agbaje, described the hackathon as a platform for developing future technology leaders through real-world 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 emphasized resilience, collaboration and ethical execution as critical success factors in innovation and enterprise building.
Managing Director of HabariPay, Eduofon Japhet, said this year’s edition marked the most ambitious iteration of the hackathon to date, with participation 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 is developing a long-term mentorship and talent pipeline programme to support selected participants through training, tuition assistance 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 standout innovations was Tracker, an AI-powered workforce productivity monitoring platform developed by Sherif Sani, a Computer Science student of the University of Lagos. The solution uses artificial intelligence to analyse workflow patterns, browser activity and task completion timelines for remote and onsite teams, while incorporating privacy-focused monitoring controls.
The event featured coding marathons, live product demonstrations, technical assessments and networking sessions, with judges evaluating teams based on creativity, scalability, user impact and execution capability.
The HabariPay Squad Hackathon 3.0 reinforces the commitment of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and HabariPay to advancing innovation, strengthening talent development, and positioning Nigeria as a leading hub in Africa’s digital economy.
