The Sui on Campus Hackfest themed “Building bridges to financial inclusion: Sui-powered solutions for African markets” concluded on a high note, showcasing innovative solutions and fostering collaboration among young developers across Nigeria. Beginning with stops at the Federal University of Technology Minna, University of Benin, University of Nigeria Nsukka, and University of Port Harcourt, the hackathon culminated in Lagos, where students from the universities mentioned above joined forces with other students from the University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Semicolon’s tech program and other industry professionals to build impactful tech solutions powered by the Sui blockchain.
Thompson Ogoyi, team lead, Sui on Campus, set the tone with an opening address that highlighted the journey of the Hackfest series and its mission to empower young innovators. He urged participants to leverage the transformative potential of blockchain technology to create impactful solutions.
Will Riches, Developer Relations Lead for Sui Blockchain, took the audience through an in-depth session on the blockchain's capabilities. Sui, a layer-one blockchain, addresses key challenges faced by Web3 developers, including user onboarding, asset issuance, and developer experience.
Riches explained how features like zkLogin simplify user acquisition, while Sui’s low latency, high bandwidth, and minimal fees enhance user experience. He also demonstrated practical applications of Sui, including lending and collateralisation, showcasing the blockchain's versatility.
Financial inclusion in focus
Tomi Eromosele, General Manager at EFInA, shed light on financial inclusion in Nigeria. Her presentation revealed that a significant portion of Nigerians remain unbanked, with many engaged in informal economies. Eromosele shared the grim data of financial inclusion in Nigeria, highlighting some of the unique challenges that persist in excluding various people from the country's financial system. She urged the participants to consider these gaps when ideating solutions.
Encouraging scalable solutions
Ashley Immanuel, co-founder and COO of Semicolon, addressed the Hackafest participants, speaking on the need for their solutions to contribute to financial inclusions, be scalable, and have market relevance. She guided attendees through a design thinking workshop, demonstrating how to ideate and refine concepts effectively.
She said, “We want you to design with a plan for product market fit. We want to create a solution that people want to use and are willing to pay for. We don't want to go very fast building in the wrong direction.” Immanuel went on to share and recommend resources to help participants develop innovative, user-centric products.
In an interview with Techpoint Africa, Riches mentioned that Sui has brought its Hackfest to Nigeria. He believes one of the main reasons for this is Nigeria's unique combination of factors. The country has a young, tech-savvy population that is well-educated, with strong universities, and an independent mindset when it comes to technology and education. “Additionally, many people are seeking alternative ways to transfer funds and Sui's technology can offer that. All these elements come together to highlight the high adoption of crypto,” Riches said.
He explained that a blockchain like Sui offers powerful features beyond just money transfer through crypto. There are a lot of possibilities for blockchain applications, like games, NFTs, and a huge variety of different things. Some of those things that we build would require regulations for them to comply with the government and that’s something that we encourage people to think about when they are designing their applications and how to make them comply with all the relevant regulations. Some aspects may not need such approvals.”
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On the topic of regulation, Riches noted that regulation typically meets technology in the middle, finding a balance between innovation and compliance.
Ashley Immanuel added that beyond the hackfest, Semicolon provides support to innovators who want to further develop their products through their accelerator program. This program connects participants to additional resources and meaningful contacts to support their projects. She said that Semicolon’s mission extends beyond training individuals in tech skills and includes helping founders nurture their products into viable ventures.
Ogoyi mentioned that due to the success of the current phase of the Hackfest, there are plans to expand the program to include other tertiary institutions, including polytechnics and colleges of education. According to the Sui on Campus team lead, there are plans for expansion to other countries in Africa.
He added that they also plan to create a digital learning-based platform with a progressive curriculum for Web3 enthusiasts and developers. “We plan to provide grants for builders with outstanding projects as well as educational resources and mentorship to guide them,” Ogoyi said.