Zenith Bank Hackathon
Shaping the Future of
Financial Innovation
Shaping the Future of Financial Innovation
Build.
Innovate.
Disrupt.
Build. Innovate. Disrupt.
About the Zenith Bank Hackathon
Zenith Bank Hackathon provides a platform for innovation, empowering creative minds to develop groundbreaking banking and fintech solutions. Through this initiative, Zenith Bank reinforces its commitment to digital transformation, financial inclusion, and technology-driven growth across Africa.
Prizes & Opportunities
Additional Benefits
Prizes & Opportunities
Additional Benefits
Prizes & Opportunities
Additional Benefits
Solution Submission Requirements
Your submission should include:
- Problem & Opportunity: Clearly define the challenge and why it matters.
- Innovative Solution: Describe your idea, how it works, and how it uses AI, GenAI, or emerging tech to solve the problem.
- Impact & Value: Explain what makes it unique and the measurable benefits for users or the financial ecosystem.
- Target Users & Implementation: Identify who benefits and outline a feasible approach for building or deploying the solution.
- Team & Expertise: Introduce your team members, their roles, and how their skills contribute to the project’s success.
Hackathon Timeline
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Application Period: 22nd September - 13th October, 2026
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
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Notification of Selection: 16th October, 2026
Shortlisted teams will be notified and invited to participate
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Live Hackathon: 20th – 22nd October 2026
Join the 3-day innovation sprint in Lagos, Nigeria.
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Semi-Final Demo: 23rd October, 2026
Semi-finalist teams will pitch their prototypes to the judges in Lagos.
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Final Demo & PitchDay: 28 October, 2026
Top 5 teams will present their final solutions during this session.
Application Period:
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
Notification of Selection: November 3, 2025
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
Live Hackathon: November 11 – 13, 2025
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
Semi-Final Demo: November 14, 2025
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
Final Demo (Conference Day): November 20, 2025
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
Hackathon Tracks
Choose a challenge track and develop impactful solutions to drive innovation in the Nigerian and African financial ecosystem.
1. Reimagining POS with AI & Smart Analytics
Pain Point: Banks deploy thousands of POS terminals nationwide, but many remain under-utilized, idle, or inefficiently monitored. This limits the potential of POS devices as tools for business growth and data-driven decision-making.
Challenge Statement: How might we leverage AI and smart analytics to transform POS devices into active engines of growth and insights for both banks and retailers, by (1) monitoring real-time usage, location, and health of POS terminals, (2) generating actionable insights for sales trends, inventory management, and demand forecasting, and (3) designing credit models that leverage POS transaction patterns to enable targeted micro-loans and working capital solutions for retailers?
2. Optimizing Operational Efficiency of ATMs
Pain Point: Banks operate thousands of ATMs nationwide, but monitoring the efficiency and performance of service engineers is challenging, leading to delays and inefficiencies.
Challenge Statement: How can a geo-location-enabled application be designed to track the real-time location, status, and performance of ATM engineers to improve operational efficiency, resource allocation, and accountability?
3. Alternative Credit Scoring Using Non-Traditional Data
Pain Point: Many SMEs and small business owners cannot meet conventional credit requirements, limiting access to financing.
Challenge Statement: How might we build an alternative credit scoring system using non-traditional data; such as utility payments, mobile phone usage, social behavior, and digital transactions, to assess creditworthiness for individuals and businesses with little or no formal credit history, expanding financial inclusion?
4. SME Marketplace and Smart Lending Platform
Pain Point: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially women-led businesses, struggle to gain both market visibility and access to affordable financing. Traditional lenders often lack reliable, disaggregated data (e.g., gender, sector, growth trajectory) to tailor credit offerings or support mechanisms effectively.
Challenge Statement: How might we design a unified digital marketplace and smart lending platform that enables SMEs to showcase their products and services, while leveraging data intelligence (including gender inference and business profiling) to match them with equitable financing opportunities and supportive financial products?
5. Strengthening Customer Trust
Pain Point: In today’s digital banking landscape, trust is a key differentiator. Yet delayed or failed transactions, slow dispute resolution, and unreliable SMS alerts continue to erode customer confidence. Many users face long waits for reversals or miss critical OTPs, damaging their experience.
Challenge Statement: How might we leverage technology to restore trust through faster dispute resolution, transparent tracking, and reliable real-time communication? Imagine a solution that detects failed transactions via secure APIs, alerts both banks instantly, enables real-time status tracking, and integrates channels like WhatsApp for instant, dependable alerts and OTP delivery.
6. Combating Digital Fraud and Financial Crime
Pain Point: As digital transactions surge across Africa, financial fraud has become increasingly sophisticated, from AI-enabled voice and video scams to organized “money mule” networks that launder stolen funds through multiple small accounts. Nigerian banks have faced penalties and reputational damage for weak AML controls, while regulators continue to tighten oversight.
Challenge Statement: How might we use AI and advanced analytics to detect and disrupt fraudulent networks in real time? For example, can we build a system that maps suspicious transaction relationships between accounts, highlights mule rings through network visualization, assigns dynamic risk scores, and supports compliance teams with actionable intelligence to stop illicit fund flows before they escalate?
7. Hyper-Personalized Banking with AI
Pain Point: Despite access to vast amounts of customer data, banks still rely on broad, one-size-fits-all marketing approaches that overlook the complexity of customer behaviors, preferences, and life events. Traditional analytics often fail to translate raw data into meaningful, timely insights, limiting engagement, weakening loyalty, and missing opportunities to deliver value-driven, individualized experiences.
Challenge Statement: How might we build a multi-agent, Generative AI-driven personalization system that collaborates intelligently to deliver hyper-relevant financial experiences for every customer? Each agent should contribute unique value; analyzing behaviors, anticipating needs, and crafting tailored insights or offers in real time. The goal is to create a dynamic ecosystem that enhances customer trust, deepens engagement, and transforms banking from transactional to truly personal.
1. Digital Customer Acquisition for the Underserved
Challenge Statement: Banks may successfully reach potential customers through digital channels, yet many prospects do not complete account opening or become active users after onboarding. How might we use technology to identify where prospective customers drop off and create a personalised acquisition journey that converts them into active digital banking customers?
2. AI-Powered Transaction Investigation and Resolution
Challenge Statement: Banks receive large volumes of customer complaints and service interactions across branches, contact centres, email, social media and digital channels, but these are often fragmented across systems and difficult to analyse at scale. This makes it challenging to identify the underlying causes of recurring issues, distinguish isolated incidents from emerging systemic problems, and prioritise where intervention is needed. How might we use AI to analyse customer interactions across channels, identify root causes and emerging service issues, and generate actionable insights that enable the bank to address problems before they escalate?
3. Smart SME Financing and Growth Platform
Challenge Statement: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially women-led businesses, often struggle to access affordable financing, relevant financial products and new market opportunities due to limited formal credit history and fragmented business data. How might we leverage alternative data, AI and digital platforms to assess SME creditworthiness, connect businesses to appropriate financing and financial services, and unlock new opportunities for sustainable business growth?
4. Strengthening Trust in Digital Banking
Challenge Statement: As banking increasingly moves to digital channels, customers need greater confidence that their interactions, communications and financial decisions are secure, transparent and genuinely connected to their bank. Yet uncertainty around digital communications, unclear processes and limited visibility can undermine trust. How might we use technology to make digital banking interactions more transparent, verifiable and trustworthy, helping customers confidently understand, validate and navigate their banking experiences?
5. Combating Digital Fraud and Financial Crime
Challenge Statement: As digital transactions surge across Africa, financial fraud has become increasingly sophisticated, from AI-enabled voice and video scams to organised "money mule" networks that launder stolen funds through multiple small accounts. Nigerian banks have faced penalties and reputational damage for weak AML controls, while regulators continue to tighten oversight. How might we use AI and advanced analytics to detect and disrupt fraudulent networks in real time?
6. Managing Misinformation and Reputational Risk
Challenge Statement: The rise of misinformation-charged narratives means that false or exaggerated stories about financial institutions can spread rapidly online, damaging their reputation even when untrue. How might we use AI-driven processes to classify and counter misinformation before it escalates into reputational crises in financial services?
7. Inclusive Digital Banking for Diverse Accessibility Needs
Challenge Statement: Customers with visual, hearing, motor or other acessibility needs can face barriers when using digital banking services. The challenge is to design a digital banking experience that enables these customers to independently complete key activities such as onboarding, authentication, payments and account management.
8. Detecting Emerging Insider Threats
Challenge Statement: Banks give employees and third-party users legitimate access to sensitive systems and customer data, making it difficult to distinguish unusual but legitimate activity from potential misuse or compromised credentials. The challenge is to use behavioural, access and contextual data to identify emerging insider threats and determine when intervention is warranted, while minimising false alarms.
9. Intelligent Customer Product Matching
Challenge Statement: Customers are often presented with multiple banking products without knowing which one is most relevant to their actual financial needs. The challenge is to develop an intelligent recommendation system that uses customer-permitted information and financial behaviour to identify relevant products or services at the appropriate time, while avoiding irrelevant or excessive marketing.
10. Turning Customer Financial Data into Actionable Insights
Challenge Statement: Customers who use multiple banks and financial services may not have a consolidated view of their income, spending, savings and financial commitments. The challenge is to develop a secure solution that brings together customer-permitted financial data from multiple sources and turns it into actionable insights to help customers better understand and manage their finances.
Application Assessment Criteria
Submissions will be judged based on:
Innovation & Creativity
Originality and smart use of emerging technologies.
Feasibility
Realistic and technically achievable concept.
Impact
Relevance to financial inclusion and user needs.
Scalability
Potential to expand and serve larger markets.
Presentation
Clear, compelling, and well-structured pitch.
Eligibility Criteria
Who Can Participate
- Open to all Individuals within 20 – 35 years of age
- Developers, designers, and innovators
- Students, professionals, & startups
- Teams of 2-4 people
- Citizens of African countries
Who Cannot Participate
- Employees of host company, partner entities or judges and their family members
- Anyone with any other potential conflict of interest not specified above.
Terms and Conditions
By participating in the Zenith Bank Hackathon, all teams agree to the following:
- The submitted solution complies with Intellectual Property (IP) laws and regulations.
- The work is original, created solely by the submitting team.
- The solution does not infringe on any third-party rights (e.g., copyright, patent, or trademark).
- Neither Zenith Bank Plc nor Beyond Limits Global shall be held responsible for any IP infringement; the team remains solely liable for any such breach.
Selection and Evaluation Criteria
Submissions and prototypes will be evaluated based on the following key criteria:
- Innovation & Creativity: Originality and intelligent use of emerging technologies.
- Feasibility: Technical soundness and practical viability of the solution.
- Impact: Contribution to financial inclusion and addressing real user needs.
- Scalability: Potential to expand, adapt, and serve larger markets.
- Presentation: Clarity and overall structure of the pitch.
How to Participate
- Form Your Team
Create a team of 2-4 members with diverse skills; such as AI/ML engineering, backend or frontend development, UI/UX design, data science, fintech expertise, or product management. - Choose a Track
Review the hackathon tracks and problem statements carefully. Select one theme that aligns with your team’s interests and expertise. - Develop Your Idea
Leverage GenAI, Agentic AI, and other emerging technologies to design an innovative solution for your chosen challenge. - Prepare Your Pitch
Craft a clear and compelling presentation that communicates your idea, impact, and technical approach. - Submit Your Application
Register online and upload your pitch deck and required details before the deadline. - Get Shortlisted
Selected teams will be invited to participate in the Zenith Bank Zecathon 6.0 live hackathon in Lagos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Who can participate?
Anyone passionate about innovation in fintech, including developers, designers, entrepreneurs, students, and startups, can apply.
Q2. Is participation free?
Yes. Participation in Zecathon 6.0 is completely free of charge.
Q3. Can international participants apply?
Yes. Applicants from outside Nigeria are welcome, provided they are citizens of African countries and can travel to Lagos for the live hackathon events if selected.
Q4. Can I apply as an individual?
Solo applicants are not allowed. You can apply as a team of 2–4 members
Q5. How do I submit my idea?
Submit your ideas and register your team online.
Q6. What should my submission include?
Include your project title, problem statement, proposed solution, technology overview, team details, and a pitch deck summarising your idea.
Q7. What kind of solutions are expected?
Solutions that leverage AI, Generative AI, Agentic AI, or other emerging technologies to solve financial challenges in hackathon tracks.
Q8. How will submissions be evaluated?
Ideas will be assessed based on innovation, feasibility, impact, scalability, and presentation quality.
Q9. What do winners receive?
A total prize pool of ₦90,000,000:
- 1st Position: ₦35M,
- 2nd Position: ₦20M,
- 3rd Position: ₦15M,
- 4th & 5th Position: ₦10M each
All winners also gain opportunities into post-competition training and inspiration program, investor exposure, and strategic collaborations with Zenith Bank.
Q10. Will travel or accommodation be covered?
No. Teams attending the live hackathon in Lagos will be responsible for their accommodation; however, meals, refreshment, internet, and workspace will be provided during the hackathon.
Q11. Do I need to have a working prototype to apply?
Not necessarily. At the idea submission stage, you only need a clear concept and a strong proposal. A working demo may be developed later during the hackathon.
Q12. Can an organization apply as a team?
Yes. Organizations, startups, and registered entities may apply as teams, provided all members meet eligibility requirements.
Q13. Who owns the intellectual property of the submitted ideas?
All intellectual property remains with the participant or team, as long as the idea is original and does not infringe on third-party rights.
Q14. What support will be provided during the hackathon?
Participants will have access to mentors, technical experts, and fintech leaders to refine their solutions and prepare for demo presentations.
Q15. What happens after the hackathon?
Winning teams will join a 2-week training and inspiration program in January 2027 to further develop their solutions and explore strategic partnerships with Zenith Bank.
Q16. Can we submit more than one idea?
Yes, teams may submit multiple ideas, but each must be submitted as a separate application.
Ready to Build the Future?
Join Zenith Bank Zecathon 6.0 and help shape the next generation of financial innovation in Africa.
Applications close 13th October, 2026
About the Partners
Beyond Limits
Program Implementation Partner
Beyond Limits is an organization dedicated to advancing innovation, leadership transformation, and business growth. With a clear mission to inspire excellence and empower communities, the company focuses on three pillars: fostering entrepreneurship development by equipping individuals with essential skills, facilitating tech ecosystem growth by connecting innovators with opportunities, and promoting leadership and digital transformation to help organizations embrace change, adopt technology, and remain competitive in today's evolving global marketplace.
Learn more about Beyond LimitsZenith Bank Plc
Zenith Bank Plc was established in May 1990, and commenced operations in July of the same year as a commercial bank. The Bank became a public limited company on June 17, 2004 and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on October 21, 2004 following a highly successful Initial Public Offering (IPO). Zenith Bank Plc currently has a shareholder base of more than half a million and is Nigeria's biggest bank by tier-1 capital. In 2013, the Bank listed $850 million worth of its shares at $6.80 each on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Learn more about Zenith Bank
Beyond Limits
Program Implementation Partner
Beyond Limits is a leading organization dedicated to driving innovation, leadership transformation, and business growth. The company focuses on three core pillars:
(1) Fostering entrepreneurship development
(2) Facilitating tech ecosystem growth, and
(3) Promoting leadership and digital transformation.
Zenith Bank Plc
Zenith Bank Plc was established in May 1990, and commenced operations in July of the same year as a commercial bank. The Bank became a public limited company on June 17, 2004 and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on October 21, 2004 following a highly successful Initial Public Offering (IPO). Zenith Bank Plc currently has a shareholder base of more than half a million and is Nigeria’s biggest bank by tier-1 capital. In 2013, the Bank listed $850 million worth of its shares at $6.80 each on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
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