Squad 2026 Hackathon 3.0 Offers up to ₦5m in Prizes

In Short

• Squad is running its third hackathon edition, Hackathon 3.0, for Nigerian university students.
• The theme is “Smart Systems: The Intelligent Economy”.
• Top teams can win prizes worth up to ₦5 million.

What Happened

Squadco published details of its 2026 Hackathon 3.0, calling on students in Nigerian universities to build “smart systems” for finance.

The company is positioning the event around AI automation and data-driven products. In simple terms, AI automation means software that can make routine finance tasks happen on their own, like sorting transactions, flagging suspicious activity, or routing payments based on rules.

Squad’s hackathon page frames the challenge as building on Squad APIs. An API is a connector that lets one software product talk to another, like a plug that gives your app access to payments, transfers, or account data.

Why It Matters

Hackathons have become a direct pipeline into early technical talent and product ideas in Nigeria. For fintech operators, they can surface practical tools that improve payment operations, reconciliation, and risk checks.

For student teams, working with payments infrastructure early can shorten the learning curve for building real products. It also encourages stronger engineering habits, like testing in sandbox environments and designing for security and reliability.

For the ecosystem, the “intelligent economy” framing shows how Nigerian fintechs are increasingly marketing AI features, not just payment acceptance. If strong prototypes emerge, some could become pilots, internships, or startup projects after the competition.