NSE calls for entries for its inaugural Hackathon

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced the commencement of the inaugural edition of X-Kathon, its hackathon and idea innovation contest designed to improve the Nigerian capital market. This edition themed, “Millennial Participation in The Capital Market”, is aimed at enhancing retail investors’ participation in the capital market.

According to a press statement from the Exchange, X-kathon is open to talented individuals, teams and ventures in the tech ecosystem, who have the “magic wand” to explode the growth potentials of the Nigerian capital market. Interested participants should submit creative ideas, software/tech solutions and hacks  to address “low participation of millennials  in the capital market”  on or before October 8, 2019, via http://www.nse.com.ng/x-kathon.

To ensure the best candidates emerge at the grand finale on October 24, 2019, entries for the X-kathon will undergo rigorous review and the top 10 entries will be invited to a boot camp. The overall winner of the maiden edition of the X-kathon will win the sum of Five Million Naira while the first and second runner ups will win Three Million Naira and Two Million Naira respectively.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. John Nsikak, Head Enterprise Innovation Hub at The Nigerian Stock Exchange said, “Technology remains an essential enabler for growth in the Nigerian capital market. While the banking sector has witnessed an increased level of innovation and disruption, leading to the creation of more value for customers, the capital market is yet to experience the same wave of change.

“At the NSE, we intend to change this narrative by leveraging X-Kathon as one of the platforms to crowdsource ideas and solutions that will catalyze innovation and startups’ participation in our market. With X-kathon, NSE is inspiring stakeholders in the Fintech industry to solve “participation challenges” in a fun and pragmatic way through the development of simple, yet meaningful solutions. We hope that founders and creative groups will leverage this medium to build a closer relationship with the NSE and the capital market”.