GTCO-Backed HabariPay Squad Hackathon Spotlights Nigeria’s Growing AI Talent Ecosystem

Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is undergoing a fundamental shift. While the country has long been recognised as a powerhouse for consumer fintech, the next generation of builders is moving deeper into the stack, leveraging artificial intelligence to solve structural economic challenges.

This evolution was on full display at the recently concluded Squad Hackathon 3.0, organised by HabariPay—the fintech subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO).

Held at the GTCentre in Lagos, the event brought together hundreds of student developers and AI innovators from across Nigerian universities, tasked with building deployable solutions for financial inclusion, productivity, and digital infrastructure.

The scale of this year’s competition underscores a massive surge in developer interest. Organizers received over 1,600 applications nationwide, with more than 600 shortlisted following rigorous technical and GitHub portfolio reviews.

According to HabariPay Managing Director Eduofon Japhet, participation increased more than tenfold compared to earlier editions, reflecting an explosive appetite for AI-focused development among young Nigerian engineers.

The Big Winners: Bridging the Informal Sector via Voice AI

The ultimate crown went to Team Block X from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The three-man team—comprising Treasure Uvietobore (Platform & Systems Engineer), Naheem Olaide (Frontend & Machine Learning Developer), and Enoch Idowu (AI & Machine Learning Engineer)—impressed the judges with Guild, an AI-powered platform designed to bring informal labor into the formal financial fold.

How “Guild” Solves a Structural Problem:

The Challenge: Millions of skilled, informal workers in Nigeria remain financially invisible due to a lack of transaction histories, credit records, or formal documentation.

The AI Solution: Guild utilizes “Tola,” a Nigerian-English conversational voice agent that allows everyday workers (like bricklayers or artisans) to easily interact with the platform.

The Fintech Integration: The system matches workers with employers, processes seamless payments via Squad’s infrastructure, and automatically builds a verifiable financial record. Organizers note that consistent activity on the platform could unlock access to traditional banking and credit services within just 90 days.

From Workforce Productivity to Global Trends

Team Block X wasn’t the only standout. Another highly praised project was “Tracker,” developed by Sherif Sani, a computer science student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). Tracker is an AI-driven workforce productivity monitoring system designed to analyze both remote and onsite team activity, cleverly balancing performance analytics with privacy-focused controls.

This pivot toward embedded infrastructure and AI mirrors what global tech giants like Stripe, Google, and Microsoft have been doing for years: using targeted developer competitions to discover early-stage talent and accelerate platform adoption.

Addressing the participants, GTCO Group CEO Segun Agbaje emphasized that the initiative serves as a vital pipeline for identifying future technology leaders through practical, high-impact problem-solving.

“The world is not ruled by extroverts; it is ruled by thinkers,” Agbaje noted, urging the student innovators to prioritize resilience, collaboration, and ethical execution.

Nigeria hosts dozens of hackathons every year, but the ecosystem’s open secret is that many student projects die the moment the closing ceremony ends. The long-term impact of Squad Hackathon 3.0 will likely hinge on breaking this cycle.

HabariPay is actively trying to change the narrative. Managing Director Eduofon Japhet outlined concrete plans for structured, post-event support, including:

• Long-term mentorship and advanced technical training.
• Tuition support to help students finish their degrees without financial strain.
• Direct employment pathways within the broader GTCO and HabariPay ecosystem.

As Africa’s largest startup ecosystem shifts its gaze toward artificial intelligence, corporate-backed infrastructure pipelines like Squad will prove critical. If HabariPay successfully converts these student prototypes into sustainable, market-ready businesses, it will transition from being just a fintech provider to becoming the foundational infrastructure layer for Africa’s digital future.