Zenith Bank Gives N190 Million To 13 Winners At Tech Fair 6.0, Says Africa Must Lead AI Revolution

Zenith Bank has just raised the bar for innovation in Nigeria, giving out a record N190 million to 13 winners at the sixth edition of its Tech Fair, Zenith Tech Fair 2026: Future Forward 6.0.

The event, held virtually for the first time on Thursday, November 5, 2026, carried a bold theme, AI: Embrace or Extinct, and it pulled together tech leaders, founders, developers, policymakers and students from around the world to talk about how Artificial Intelligence is changing business, economies and everyday life.

This year prize pool is the biggest in the history of the Tech Fair, and it shows how serious Zenith Bank is about backing young innovators.

Three competitions took centre stage, the Hackathon, the Startup Pitch Competition, and the brand new Future Innovators Challenge for secondary school students. Together they attracted over 3,000 entries from developers, entrepreneurs and school children who wanted funding and a platform to grow their ideas.

In the Hackathon, Team Solo took first place with N35 million. 10x Brains followed in second place with N20 million. Rumour Hunters came third with N15 million, while Ominira and Team Avera finished fourth and fifth, each going home with N10 million.

In the Startup Pitch Competition, Cutstruct Technology Limited won first place with N35 million for its LiveVend platform, a solution that is changing how developers and contractors buy construction materials by connecting them directly with suppliers.

Sproutly came second with N20 million for using fintech to make school payments easier. PharmaRun took third with N15 million for making it easier to get authentic medicines through its pharmacy network. AUI BRAND and ProDevs completed the top five, each receiving N10 million.

The new Future Innovators Challenge gave secondary school students their own spotlight. Caleb British International School won first place with N5 million for ReLearn, a platform that redistributes used textbooks to students in underserved communities, making learning cheaper and more accessible. Queen of the Rosary College, Onitsha, took second place with N3 million, while Regina Pacis International School took third place with N2 million.

The money is not the only reward. All winners will also join a six-week mentorship and incubation programme, where experts will help them sharpen their products, build stronger business models and scale faster.

Speaking at the event, Zenith Bank Founder, Jim Ovia, CFR, restated his long standing dream, to empower young people through technology and raise innovators who can stand beside global names like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.

Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank, Dame Dr Adaora Umeoji, OON, in her opening address, warned that Africa cannot afford to fear AI. She pointed to the Bank investments in digital infrastructure, including its Zenith Intelligent Virtual Assistant, ZIVA, and its fintech subsidiary FinoPay, which built the SMART AfCFTA Portal to support intra-African trade.

She said the next generation of global AI champions can and should come from Africa, and urged participants, do not fear AI, embrace it. Whether you are developing a solution for a farm, clinic, classroom or factory, dare to think big, build ethically and create scalable solutions.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, praised Zenith Bank for consistently driving innovation and raising the standard for businesses, employees and stakeholders. He also restated Lagos commitment to supporting the tech ecosystem and keeping Lagos at the forefront of innovation in Africa.

The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, SAN, represented by the Director-General of NASRDA, Professor Matthew Adepoju, also commended the Bank. He stressed that when government and private sector work in the same direction, ideas become products, products become businesses, and businesses create jobs.

The keynote address was delivered by Zach Kass, former Head of Go-to-Market at OpenAI. Speaking on the rise of AI and autonomous agents, he asked a question that stayed with many participants, what do we want to keep human, and what are we willing to automate?

Other speakers included Mike Ogbalu III of PAPSS, Deniz Oran of Google for EMEA, Jane Egerton-Idehen of NIGCOMSAT, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi of NITDA, and Chinwe Uzoho of Network International. Sessions were moderated by CNN Correspondent Victoria Rubadiri and other industry experts.

Conceived by Jim Ovia, the Zenith Tech Fair has grown from an idea into a major platform that connects ideas, talent, investment and opportunity. Past winners have gone on to build real solutions, including JumpnPass with self-checkout for retail, CreditChek with AI and open banking for credit verification, TrustLoop, winner of the 2025 Hackathon with digital identity verification, and Cubbes Technologies Limited, winner of the 2025 Startup Pitch with an AI-powered education platform.

With the Future Innovators Challenge, Zenith Bank is now catching them young, identifying and nurturing tech talent from secondary school, and investing in the people, ideas and businesses shaping Africa digital economy.