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Wema Bank Unveils Top 20 Finalists for Hackaholics 6.0
Wema Bank Hackaholics 6.0 finalists emerge as the bank unveils the top 20 teams ahead of the grand finale on December 19
Wema Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has announced the Top 20 finalists for Hackaholics 6.0 following a two day pre pitch exercise held on December 16 and 17, 2025.
The announcement confirms the emergence of 10 finalists each from the Hackathon and Ideathon streams, marking a critical stage in the competition ahead of the grand finale scheduled for December 19.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists are PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank, Moruf Oseni, said the dual stream structure introduced for the sixth edition was designed to recognise both new solution builders and innovators refining existing ideas.
Moruf Oseni explained that innovation does not always require starting from scratch but can also involve optimising what already exists to achieve efficiency and impact.
Moruf Oseni said Hackaholics continues to demonstrate the drive and creativity of Nigerian youth, noting that the 2025 edition toured seven cities and engaged 1,460 participants.
He added that hundreds of ideas were reviewed, with guidance provided to teams that needed refinement before the strongest concepts advanced.
The pre pitch stage brought together 43 shortlisted teams who presented solutions addressing real world challenges in a competitive and intense atmosphere of problem solving.
After rigorous evaluation, the Top 20 teams secured places in the final round of the competition.
The grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 is expected to convene key players across Africa’s technology and innovation ecosystem, offering finalists a powerful platform to showcase their solutions to potential investors and industry leaders beyond the cash prizes.
Wema Bank disclosed that winners in the Ideathon category will receive prizes of N25 million, N20 million and N15 million for first, second and third positions respectively, alongside N5 million each for two women led teams. In the Hackathon category, prizes range from N20 million for first place to N5 million for fourth place.
Observers say the scale and structure of Hackaholics 6.0 reinforce Wema Bank’s commitment to nurturing innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable growth within Nigeria’s technology ecosystem.
Members of the public can watch the grand finale live via Wema Bank’s official YouTube channel, with conversations continuing online using the hashtag Hackaholics6.
Mbappe China sponsorships have ended after Dongpeng and Mengniu dropped the football star over alleged remarks about a meme featuring Mao Zedong
Two major Chinese brands have ended their sponsorship partnerships with French football star Kylian Mbappe following the circulation of a video in which he allegedly joked about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Also read: LASTMA Reports Tipper Incident on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
Beverage company Dongpeng and dairy producer Mengniu announced the decisions on Tuesday, citing concerns that the remarks had offended Chinese national sentiment.
“Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” Dongpeng said in a statement, announcing the immediate termination of its partnership with the Real Madrid forward.
Mengniu, China’s largest dairy producer, also confirmed that it was ending its collaboration with the 27-year-old France captain.
“With immediate effect, our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe,” the company said.
Mengniu added that it opposed words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.
The decisions followed the circulation of a video in which Mbappe reportedly described the funniest internet meme he had seen as one featuring his face edited onto that of “some guy — I think he’s a Chinese dictator”.
The comment appeared to refer to an online meme depicting Mbappe as Mao, who led the Chinese Communist Party and died in 1976.
However, the authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified by AFP Fact Check.
Mao remains a sensitive figure in China, where jokes perceived as disrespectful towards the former leader can provoke public criticism.
Mbappe had been popular among Chinese football fans, attracting millions of followers on Chinese social media.
He is also nicknamed “Guigui”, a Chinese translation of “Turtle”, linked to an internet meme inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Dongpeng had used AI-generated images of Mbappe drinking its sports beverage in advertising campaigns shown in China during this year’s World Cup.
The controversy also attracted attention on Weibo, China’s major social media platform, where the termination of Dongpeng’s partnership with Mbappe became a trending topic.
Some users supported the companies’ decisions, arguing that the alleged remarks crossed a line, while others called for Mbappe’s image to be removed from the beverage company’s products.
Chinese football outlet Dongqiudi criticised the reported comments in a statement on Monday evening, describing them as offensive to China and its people and saying they had hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans.
The incident follows Mbappe’s comments in September about another internet meme depicting him as a military dictator.
In an interview with French sports newspaper L’Équipe, he said some memes were intended as harmless fun but expressed discomfort with comparisons to historical figures responsible for widespread suffering.
“There’s a part of it that’s funny. You can tell that, for some people, it’s all in good fun. But there is another part that’s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,” he said.
“Being compared to individuals who murder others, or who have brought misery to millions upon millions of people — well, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that in my life,” Mbappe added.
The controversy comes amid a history of disputes involving international sports figures and politically sensitive issues in China, including Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong.
In 2023, former NBA player Dwight Howard sparked criticism on Chinese social media after referring to Taiwan as a country in a video featuring Taiwan’s then-vice-president and current president, Lai Ching-te.
In 2019, a social media post by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests prompted a backlash in China, including the suspension of sponsorship agreements and a year-long withdrawal of NBA games from Chinese television.
Also read: LASTMA Reports Tipper Incident on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
The latest episode highlights the commercial risks international athletes can face when remarks or online content are perceived as crossing political or cultural sensitivities in major sponsorship markets.
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