Lagos, Nigeria – The Fifth Edition of the Zenith Tech Fair, aptly themed “Future Forward 5.0: Tech for Success – Innovate, Adapt, Accelerate”, has concluded on a triumphant note, with a staggering ₦140 million in cash prizes distributed to ten outstanding African innovators. Held recently in Lagos, the event marked a significant milestone in Zenith Bank’s ongoing commitment to fostering technological innovation across the continent, drawing thousands of participants and showcasing groundbreaking solutions poised to reshape industries.
This year’s fair introduced an innovative dual-competition format: a high-intensity Hackathon focused on rapid product development and a Startup Pitch Competition tailored for early-stage ventures. The expanded structure attracted over 2,000 contestants from across Africa – developers, founders, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts – all vying for recognition and funding in what was dubbed the “Zecathon”. After rigorous rounds of coding, prototyping, and pitching, ten finalists emerged victorious, collectively sharing the ₦140 million prize pool in non-dilutive grants.
At the pinnacle of the competition, two grand winners each walked away with ₦30 million. In the Hackathon category, Trust Loop claimed the top spot with its cutting-edge digital KYC (Know Your Customer) and liveness verification platform. The solution promises seamless, secure identity verification, addressing a critical pain point in financial services, e-commerce, and digital onboarding across Africa where fraud and identity theft remain persistent challenges. Meanwhile, in the Startup Pitch Competition, Cubbes Technologies Limited secured first place with its revolutionary AI-powered EdTech platform. Designed to enhance learning outcomes and career readiness, Cubbes leverages artificial intelligence to personalise education, bridge skill gaps, and prepare the next generation for the demands of a digital economy.
The remaining eight finalists – Venille Ltd, Sowota, FLOW, InvoPay, Zenith Intelliscore, The Very Hacked Men, Konfam, and Zerax – each received ₦10 million. These ventures spanned diverse sectors including fintech, healthtech, agritech, and logistics, demonstrating the breadth of African ingenuity. Notably, all ten winners will gain access to an intensive six-week mentorship and incubation programme running from December 2025 to February 2026. Facilitated by industry experts, the programme aims to refine business models, strengthen technical capabilities, and accelerate market entry, ensuring these solutions transition from prototypes to scalable enterprises.
Delivering the welcome address, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Dame Dr Adaora Umeoji, OON, paid glowing tribute to the bank’s Founder and Chairman, Dr Jim Ovia, CFR, for his visionary leadership in establishing the Tech Fair five years ago. Dr Umeoji underscored the urgency of the 2025 theme, drawing a compelling historical parallel: “According to the Harvard Business Review, it took humanity millions of years to master fire, yet only 66 years from the Wright brothers’ first powered flight to Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. The pace of progress is accelerating exponentially. The next world-changing innovation will not take decades – it could emerge tomorrow, and it could come from one of the brilliant minds in this room. Zenith Bank stands ready to nurture and fund that spark.”
Dr Jim Ovia, in his goodwill message, reiterated his lifelong mission to empower African youth through technology. “This fifth edition reaffirms our unwavering commitment to creating value through innovation and talent development,” he stated. “My dream is that initiatives like this will one day produce Africa’s own Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Jeff Bezos – homegrown tech titans who will place the continent at the forefront of global innovation.”
The Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who graced the occasion, hailed the Tech Fair as a vital catalyst for youth empowerment. He emphasised Nigeria’s demographic advantage, noting that by 2050, half of the world’s youth population will reside in Africa, with a significant portion in Nigeria – and Lagos in particular. “What Zenith is doing here is exactly what leadership should support and replicate,” Governor Sanwo-Olu declared. “We need more platforms that give our young, dynamic, and creative minds the space to soar. Lagos aspires to become the human capital centre of the world – a place where global giants like Microsoft and Google will come to cultivate a million tech experts. Events like the Zenith Tech Fair are the foundation of that vision.”
Beyond the competition, the Fair served as an intellectual and technological showcase. Attendees were treated to live demonstrations of Generative AI, Agentic AI, and Cloud Computing applications transforming finance, education, healthcare, and commerce. Thought leaders delivered riveting keynote addresses: Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Managing Director of M-PESA Africa, explored mobile money’s evolution in the age of AI; Jonas Kjellberg, co-creator of Skype, shared lessons on building billion-dollar disruptors; and Dr Shivagami Gugan, Chief Technologist for Middle East, Turkey and Africa at AWS, unpacked the transformative power of cloud infrastructure for emerging markets.
Participants and observers unanimously described the event as a resounding success, praising its scale, energy, and tangible outcomes. For many of the young innovators in attendance, the Zenith Tech Fair represented far more than a competition – it was affirmation that Africa’s tech ecosystem is maturing rapidly, backed by institutions willing to invest boldly in its future.
With ₦140 million injected directly into ten promising ventures, a robust incubation pipeline established, and continental conversations ignited on the role of technology in economic prosperity, the Fifth Zenith Tech Fair has solidified its reputation as one of Africa’s premier platforms for innovation. As the winners embark on their mentorship journey and prepare to scale their solutions, the continent watches with anticipation: the next African unicorn may very well have taken its first funded steps on the Zenith stage.
