Winner emerges in Stanbic IBTC Innovation Challenge

NIGERIA

Yochaa, a startup with a stockbroking mobile platform has emerged the winner of the inaugural Stanbic IBTC Innovation Challenge following a keenly contested pitch session to the executive leadership of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC (Stanbic IBTC) and Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), the implementation partner on the project, in Lagos recently.

The three finalists: Yochaa, Flutterwave and Venture Garden Group, pitched their solutions in the identified areas of stock trading, card issuance and data usage respectively; taking their chance at the prize money of $15,000 in total, with Yoocha emerging first, Flutterwave second and Venture Garden Group third.

The executive pitch session came on the heels of an initial pitch day which held at the Stanbic IBTC Blue (Innovation) Lab in Yaba, Lagos the commercial capital city of Nigeria, where nine shortlisted startups selected from over 200 entries received, pitched their solutions to senior management of Stanbic IBTC and Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB).

In his opening remarks at the event, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, Mr. Yinka Sanni, commended the three finalists for making it this far and noted that all three solutions – regardless of eventual winner – will be considered for partnership as they underline the main objective of the competition; which is to improve efficiency, simplicity, and robustness in delivering the right customer experience.

The Stanbic IBTC Innovation Challenge commenced with a call for ideas on August 6, 2018. This call for ideas required startups to submit applications demonstrating technologies, tools and services, in line with the identified solution areas within the organization. Following this, a one-day ideation session tagged ‘Ideas Open Day’ held at the Stanbic IBTC Blue (Innovation) Lab in Yaba, Lagos on 24 August 2018, during which Stanbic IBTC hosted product development teams and technology start-ups across the country to ensure proper understanding of the challenge and submission of applications that are fit for purpose. The call for ideas closed on 14 September 2018.

Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, Dr. Demola Sogunle, while giving the background information on the structure and focus areas of the innovation challenge, stated that “We believe that technology holds the key to enhancing some operations within our business – principal of which is making our card issuance and delivery system more seamless and cost-efficient for the banking subsidiary. Other areas of focus include creating an efficient data analytics system that collates relevant customer data, and transforms them into useful insights to improve service delivery for our asset management subsidiary and lastly improving the customer trading experience through the creation of a simplified trading platform for our stockbroking clients.” He said Stanbic IBTC is continuously seeking innovative ways to enhance customer experience through technology as it looks to achieve the strategic objective of a digitized customer-centric universal financial services organization.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, a member of Standard Bank Group, a full service financial services group with a clear focus on three main business pillars – Corporate and Investment Banking, Personal and Business Banking and Wealth Management. Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets and market capitalization. It is rooted in Africa with strategic representation in 20 countries on the African continent. Standard Bank has been in operation for over 155 years and is focused on building first-class, on-the-ground financial services institutions in chosen countries in Africa; and connecting selected emerging markets to Africa by applying sector expertise, particularly in natural resources, power and infrastructure.