HERITAGE Bank Plc has given out $40, 000 (N15 million) as grant to winners of the maiden edition of its HB Innovative Lab. This is part of the bank’s efforts to support Nigeria’s aspiration and roadmap to become a leading Information Communication Technology (ICT) hub in Africa.
The maiden edition of Heritage Bank Innovation Lab Accelerator programme (HB-LAB) tagged, ‘Demo Day,’ is a 12-week programme, expected to provide technology start-ups seeking additional investments to progress and accelerate market introduction/adoption of their solutions with co-working and internet resources, guidance and mentorship with financial technology (FinTech) start-ups founder and seed funding.
At the grand finale of the programme, of the seven groups, Trep Labs-Real Drip emerged the winner with the most compelling solution and hence won the N10 million top prize. Ladipomarket.com.ng won the N5million prize, as the 1st runner-up. Speaking at the event, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo, said the bank knew it was in the best interest of the country to pay attention to the development of technology and industrial sector.
Sekibo explained further, “Newly starting up a business is part of the most difficult stage of the business, you would need to source for capital and manpower. Considering the fact that you are a new business those items are not so easy and cheap for you to acquire.
“However, the presentations we have seen today shows how gifted Nigeria is with human resources, our youths have demonstrated that the country still has a beautiful future. I am impressed with the start-ups, after six weeks of drilling and grooming they have been able to develop up to this point; everyone is a winner tonight as far as I am concerned.”