By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The inaugural Writing Challenge organised by a leading Banking as a Service (BaaS) enabler, OnePipe, has produced three winners, who will receive N1 million each for their efforts.
The top three finalists of the competition were Daniel Adeyemi of TechCabal, Omobayo Azeez of Business Metrics Nigeria and Sultan Quadri of TechCabal.
Earlier this year, the OnePipe Writing Challenge called for entries from journalists in Nigeria and they were required to focus on raising awareness of embedded finance in 400 to 500-word articles for assessment.
One of the winners, Mr Omobayo Azeez, said, “I am delighted to have been chosen as the winner of this contest. Initiatives like this one play a critical role in motivating high-quality journalism that informs the public on critical issues. I’d like to congratulate my fellow winners and thank the OnePipe team and judges for coming up with and carrying out this great idea.”
The co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Techpoint Africa, Mr Muyiwa Matuluko, while also reacting to the contest, commended “OnePipe for highlighting the importance of educational reporting in Nigeria and rewarding the winners of the OnePipe Writing Challenge. It was such a delight examining all the entries that presented a variety of story angles focused on embedded finance.”
The founder and CEO of OnePipe, Mr Ope Adeoye, while explaining the rationale behind the initiative, stated that, “We created the OnePipe Writing Challenge in recognition of the critical role that the media plays in educating the public about crucial business solutions that are helping businesses thrive.”
“The competition is one of a series of activities aimed at increasing awareness about embedded finance through educational reporting by Nigerian journalists.
“As more non-financial firms adopt payment solutions that meet the needs of their customers, there is an increasing need to educate the public on new trends and technologies,” he stated further.
Those who looked into the entries were Professor Olayinka David-West, Associate Dean of Lagos Business School, and news editors Caleb Ojewale and Muyiwa Matuluko.
The criteria for evaluation included the structure of the material, the language used, and how ideas were presented, among others. In the last stage, the OnePipe executive team conducted a final evaluation.
There were many recurring themes among the winners, including the value of embedded finance for Nigerian and African businesses, the role of technology in driving financial inclusion, and the future of financial institutions.