Accra, Dec. 15, GNA -The Bank of Ghana held an award ceremony for 10 finalists of its maiden eCedi Hackathon in Accra in which three emerged top winners.
Forward Titans was adjudged the overall best.and won a prize of GHS500,000.
The first runner up Nokofio received GHS300, 000 while the second runner up Pay code received GHS200,000.
All the 10 finalists received certificates of participation.
The e-Cedi hackathon kicked off on October 6, 2023 under supervision of the BoG and its technology partner EMTECH Solutions.
The competition brought together creators, developers and entrepreneurs to ideate groundbreaking solutions leveraging the e-Cedi.
The hackathon’s focus areas provided insight into functionalities and versatility that the Bank of Ghana envisions for the e-Cedi.
Speaking at the award ceremony on Thursday in Accra, Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the BoG in the past few years, championed policies and implemented financial market infrastructures that had created a supportive environment for the digital delivery of financial services.
Currently, he said, the financial sector could boast of a variety of digital financial services, including payment, credit, savings, and investment products that were offered by banks and FinTechs.
He said new business models had emerged through FinTech channels and removed barriers to micro-credit as well as paved way for affordable and convenient inward remittance services.
These interventions have fostered financial inclusion in the country, evidenced by the phenomenal improvement in financial access from 41% in 2014 to 68% in 2021, according to the Global Findex Report of the World Bank.
Despite the progress made, much remains to be done to meet the financial service needs of every citizen in meaningful ways and called for an innovative mindset, creativity, and collaboration in exploring novel solutions of which a central bank digital currency is promising.
Dr Addison said the Bank’s CBDC would further push the frontiers of financial inclusiveness in the country, adding that exploration journey was grounded on several policy imperatives, including financial inclusion, safety and efficiency of payments, and the growing digitalisation of the Ghanaian economy.
On the eCedi Hackathon, the Governor said the invitation for proposals targeted innovative ideas that leverage CBDC tokens and APIs to prototype solutions or develop tools that would promote the use of eCedi across the various sectors of the economy and with diverse payment scenarios.
The co-creating eCedi use cases with innovators, developers, user experience experts, and financial service providers is deemed a better and more feasible approach to make the digital currency appealing to diverse user groups, thereby promoting adoption.
He said the BoG received an overwhelming response from enthusiastic creative minds and innovators across countries and continents with 88 innovation concept notes (ICN) received on October 20, 2023.
The number was pruned down to 68 for the pitchday. Out of the 68 selected for the Pitch Day, 62 accepted the offer to pitch their solution. After the Pitch Day, only 10 innovations were considered eligible for progression to the Demonstration Day.
The fascinating ideas and solutions generated by all the participants covered several areas including agriculture, government payments, business payments, taxation, securities, crowdfunding, interoperability, and credit scoring.
gratitude for the overwhelming response by innovators to the maiden edition.
“This is the maiden hackathon organised by the Bank of Ghana and we are glad that it has received an overwhelming response from enthusiastic creative minds and innovators across countries and continents.
“At the close of the submission of the innovation concept note (ICN) on October 20, 2023, 88 ICNs were received.”
“The number was pruned down to 68 for the pitch day. Out of the 68 selected for the Pitch Day, 62 accepted the offer to pitch their solution. After the Pitch Day, only 10 innovations were considered eligible for progression to the Demonstration Day,” he said.
Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, CEOs of Banks and other dignitaries, attended the ceremony.
GNA