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Leading Banking as a Service (BaaS) enabler, OnePipe today announced the winners of its inaugural Writing Challenge, capping up a three-month process that began in March 2022. The top three finalists of the inaugural competition, Daniel Adeyemi (TechCabal), Omobayo Azeez (Business Metrics Nigeria), and Sultan Quadri (TechCabal) will each get one million naira as recognition for their remarkable articles highlighting the growth and impact of Embedded Finance in Nigeria.
The OnePipe Writing Challenge was announced earlier this year, with calls for submissions to highlight finance-focused journalism, with an emphasis on raising awareness about the topic of embedded finance. Entries in the form of 400-500 word articles, as well as TV and radio excerpts, were submitted and collated for assessment.
“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,” says Ope Adeoye, OnePipe’s Founder and CEO.
“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 continued.
Professor Olayinka David-West, Associate Dean of Lagos Business School, and news editors Caleb Ojewale and Muyiwa Matuluko, all of whom have expertise in editorial writing, financial inclusion policy, and digital money, were on the panel that examined the writing competition entries. The criteria for evaluation included the structure of the material, the language used, how ideas were presented, among others. As a last stage, the OnePipe executive team conducted a final evaluation.
Muyiwa Matuluko, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Techpoint Africa, said, “I would like to commend 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.”
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.
Speaking on the announcement, contest winner, 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”.