Access Bank hosts 2016 Innovation Challenge

In line with its corporate strategy of developing innovative solutions that drive economic development, Access Bank Plc hosted an innovation challenge where several ideas were pitched by participants with a view to finding solutions to problems in agriculture, transportation, security and power.
The Access Bank Innovation Challenge is a competition that invites teams of contestants to develop innovative solutions to Nigerian societal, infrastructural and environmental challenges, and provides them with educational guidance along the path to prototyping and possibly implementing their projects.
The 2016 Access Bank Innovation Challenge focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects billions of smart devices to the Internet. Cities all over the world have developed data-driven IoT systems that have enhanced infrastructure and security, decreased traffic congestions and improved public transportation.
Participants had undergone training in the IoT for 3 days from Tuesday April 26 to Thursday April 28. Following these successful workshops on Arduino kits and 3-D printing -state-of-the-art tools to help them build the sensors, devices and software for their solutions, Lagos Labs 2016 hardware hackathon commenced on Friday April 29.
A total of 15 teams formed by the 76 attendees worked on solutions to problems in Agriculture, Transportation, Security, and Power.The most promising teams will receive equipment, funding and mentorship to further develop and implement their ideas.
Access Bank’s N1million prize money was shared amongst the top 3 winners. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners received the sum of N500,000, N300,000 and N200,000 respectively.
Executive Director, Personal Banking, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu who addressed participants during the training workshops said one of the Bank’s core values is ‘Innovation’ and this is visibly rooted in the culture and attitude of the employees of the Bank.
“When we talk about technology innovation, it is something dear to us at Access Bank. Innovation is unique because without innovation, we would not make the progress we seek to make. In Nigeria, we are in dire need of so many things and technology is one of the tools we can apply to every area of our economy. In Access Bank, we have used technology to change so many aspects of our operations,” he added.
Some of Access Bank’s Innovative solutions are Primus & Primus – Lite (Corporate Internet banking solutions), PayWithCapture (digital banking solution), Maternal Health Support Service (MHSS) and AccelerateTV ( a digital platform for Youths).