How GTCO, HabariPay discover young talents building Nigeria’s tech future

By Prince Osuagwu In a nation where countless promising technology ideas fade quietly in classrooms and hostels due to a lack of support, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and its fintech arm HabariPay may have uncovered something far more significant than a student coding contest.

During the finale of Squad Hackathon 3.0, what surfaced was not merely a display of youthful talent but a preview of a future generation of Nigerian innovators developing homegrown technologies that could address unemployment, financial exclusion, fraud, and inefficient labor systems.

With more than 1,600 applications from universities nationwide, the hackathon became a national search for hidden digital talent among young Nigerians quietly crafting sophisticated artificial intelligence solutions that could reshape the country’s innovation ecosystem in the years ahead.

The most compelling entry came from Team Block X of Obafemi Awolowo University. Their AI‑powered platform, “Guild,” won the overall competition after judges praised it as one of the most practical and scalable solutions presented.

The students focused on a major economic blind spot in Nigeria: the informal workforce.

“Guild” employs an AI voice assistant named “Tola” to connect artisans, laborers, and other informal workers directly to job opportunities while simultaneously integrating them into the formal financial system.

For millions of Nigerians operating outside the banking sector, the potential impact is transformative.

A bricklayer, plumber, or carpenter can use the platform to secure jobs, receive payments digitally through Squad by HabariPay, and gradually build transaction histories strong enough to qualify for loans and other financial services that were previously out of reach.

In essence, the students designed a system that tackles unemployment, limited credit access, and financial exclusion all at once, using artificial intelligence tailored to local realities.

What distinguished the competition was the depth of the participants’ understanding of Nigeria’s unique challenges and their intentional design of technology to address those problems, rather than creating abstract solutions disconnected from society.

Several teams presented AI‑driven fraud‑prevention systems, smart identity verification tools, employment‑matching platforms, and security technologies adapted to the Nigerian environment.

For GTCO and HabariPay, the hackathon appears to be evolving into more than corporate social responsibility. It is increasingly becoming an innovation pipeline for discovering and nurturing future African tech leaders before the global market takes notice.

Segun Agbaje, Group Chief Executive Officer of GTCO, told participants that they should see themselves as competitors on the global stage, emphasizing that innovation and resilience will define the future.

“You are among the best anywhere in the world,” he said, while encouraging participants to embrace teamwork, discipline, and integrity.

Beyond the motivational speeches, the real investment lies in what follows the competition.

Eduofon Japhet, Managing Director of HabariPay, revealed that selected participants would enter long‑term mentorship and workforce development programmes lasting up to three years.

The programme includes tuition support, technical training, practical industry exposure, and career opportunities within the organization.

This level of commitment signals a growing recognition within Nigeria’s financial and technology sectors that the country’s next wave of innovation may come from local talent who understand the nation’s complexities firsthand.

For years, Nigeria’s technology ecosystem has been dominated by fintech startups focused on payments and digital banking. But events like Squad Hackathon 3.0 suggest the next frontier could be AI‑driven solutions addressing labor inefficiencies, financial identity gaps, fraud management, and social inclusion.

Industry analysts say one of Nigeria’s biggest untapped resources remains its youthful technical talent pool—brilliant students with ideas but little access to funding, mentorship, or commercial infrastructure.

Hackathons like this are beginning to close that gap.

By identifying talent early and exposing them to real‑world problem solving, GTCO and HabariPay are effectively building a grassroots innovation engine that could feed Nigeria’s digital economy for years to come.

More importantly, they are demonstrating that some of Nigeria’s most powerful technological solutions may already be sitting inside university classrooms, awaiting the right platform, investment, and mentorship to come to life.

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