Team Zion, Neon and Wiiverify win $10000 in Prembly Hackathon

Godfrey Elimian
Partners offer $4,000 in prizes to additional participants who applied cybersecurity best practices and policies
Team Zion, Prembly Hackathon 2022
Team Zion, Prembly Hackathon 2022

Team Zion, Team Neon and Team Wiiverify emerged as the top three winners of the $10,000 hackathon for innovative digital security solutions in Africa on Thursday, 8 December which was hosted by Prembly, the parent company of Identitypass.

The winners were announced by Prembly after a 7-day hackathon themed ‘Exploring endless possibilities with the power of APIs’, which attracted over 200 applicants from all over Africa.

The challenge which ended in a live event in Lagos, Nigeria on the 8th of December awarded $10,000 in prizes and rewarded outstanding talent with internships, mentorships, and job opportunities.

Tolu Adetuyi, CIO and Co-founder of Prembly, says;

“The event saw some of the greatest minds from all corners of the continent come together to offer solutions that address global problems. It was an invaluable opportunity for individuals from various sectors to connect, network, and share perspectives, enabling a greater understanding of the current maturity of the ecosystem.”

Prembly Hackathon 2022
Winners at the Prembly Hackathon 2022

Newton Imonjirie and Olabampe Olamigoke’s Team Zion took first place and received a $3000 cash reward. They developed a quick and highly secure solution to authenticate private credentials like BVN/NIN across the web and mobile applications with a 100% guarantee of zero credential compromise.

Team Neon, made up of Mubarak Lawal, Oluwabusayomi Sunmonu, and Isaac Enobun, finished in second place after coming up with a solution aimed at leveraging identity verification and biometric identification to enable allowed access to debit cards.

Oluwasola Michael, Ojumah Jerry, and Chibuzor Christian made up Team Wiiverify, which finished third for creating an innovative e-ride hailing platform that uses an automated KYC process to verify riders. This technology keeps a high level of security while doing away with the necessity for worker-to-customer interaction.

Read also: On accidental discovery and how Identitypass is helping over 400 African businesses navigate KYC bottlenecks

More on the Prembly Hackathon

Prembly, originally known as Mainline Digitech before rebranding in 2022, was founded in 2019 to improve Africans’ online experiences by giving companies access to top-notch compliance and KYC verification infrastructure.

It is a global technology company that provides compliance and security services based on the vision for a secured Africa free from identity theft and compliance bottlenecks. It was launched officially in 2021 by co-founders Lanre Ogungbe, Niyi Adegboye and David Obi.

It powers the infrastructure that builds trust between businesses and their customers online and aims to make the internet safe for everyone. Backed by YCombinator, Prembly’s maiden product Identitypass is a leading KYC/Compliance solution.

Lanre Ogungbe, Co-founder and CEO Identitypass

According to the Co-founder and CEO, Lanre Ogungbe, this hackathon was held to support innovations that make the internet safer through APIs and to announce the company’s goals and drive to make the internet safe in Africa.

“Because we are very keen on AI, today we have our research team working on biometrics in different regions. In short while we have done some biometrics that has gone through some algorithms.”

Lanre Ogungbe

“We are grateful for all the participants who dedicated their time and we look forward to the innovative projects that will come out of this event,” he added.

After over 200 applicants this year, ten teams were chosen after a thorough screening procedure to present their prototypes, which intended to advance Prembly’s mission of validating users and companies in Africa. The winning teams were revealed after the event.

CcHUB, Deel, and PneumaHealth, partners who supported the hackathon, offered $4,000 in prizes to additional participants who applied cybersecurity best practices and policies.

Read also: ‘We want to help as quickly as possible’- IdentityPass CEO after $360k pre-seed funding


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