The proudly made in Aba Hackathon, is a programme that empowers young entrepreneurs who have ideas that can rejuvenate the city of Aba.
Out of 400 applicants across Nigeria, only 10 were shortlisted for the hackathon, which spanned an intensive 3-day workshop and culminated in a grande finale yesterday. In the end, The Footwear Academy (TFA), which was also one of the finalists at Techpoint Build, came out tops. The footwear academy was founded by Chidinma Mirianjess Chukwuemeka.
The Footwear Academy engages people who are interested in the art of making footwear. The team travelled all the way to Aba from Lagos for the hackathon, a move that was eventually rewarded with a $50,000 grand prize for winning the competition.
In second place was Clintonel Technologies, the Aba-based hardware and prototyping lab we featured during the course of our tour of Southern Nigeria.
Ogwugo, an eCommerce platform that connects Aba artisans to a wider market, came third. In summary, the winning startups went home with $50,000, $30,000 and $10,000 respectively.
The Proudly Made in Aba Hackathon is a collaborative effort between the Ford Foundation, the Abia State government and Startup South.
Congratulations to Chidinma Mirianjess.