Union Bank Centenary Innovation Challenge 2017 (N4.5 Million Cash Prize)
Union Bank, one of Nigeria’s most respected financial institutions,
has kicked off celebrations to mark its 100th anniversary in Nigeria
having been established in 1917. The bank has embarked on a
transformation programme to reposition Union Bank with the objective of
becoming a leading provider of quality financial services in Nigeria.
Given our long standing service to individuals and
communities, Union Bank understands that partnership and pragmatism are
needed to make the right choices to improve life, in a sustainable way,
for future generations.
The Sustainable Development Goals
which are a universal call to action to end poverty, hunger, improve
health & education is an ambitious goal that resonates with us.
The innovation challenge will engage eligible young and
talented people across Nigeria to submit novel ideas that address some
of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are of immediate
interest to Union Bank. We will encourage applicants to propose
innovative ideas that solve fundamental social and commercial challenges
faced by Nigerians in a range of sectors starting in one community but
potentially scalable across the nation.
Rules & Eligibility
1. The Union Bank Centenary Innovation Challenge is open to
university students, software developers, academics and entrepreneurs of
Nigerian citizenship living in Nigeria.
2. The challenge is not open to:
- Employees of any company within the Union Bank Group or
employees of other financial institutions (commercial banks,
microfinance banks, insurance companies, brokerages, investment
companies).
- Anyone professionally involved in the development or administration of this Challenge
- Any employee whose employer’s guidelines or regulations do not allow entry in the Challenge.
However, Union Bank employees can participate in workshops and
could be called upon to serve as judges. Union Bank reserves the right
to limit, or restrict upon notice, participation in the Challenge to any
person who fails to comply with these terms and conditions.
3. To enter the competition, the entrant(s) must meet the
following criteria (submission requirements) and confirm acceptance of
these terms and conditions.
- Project/product/concept title.
- Entrant’s name(s).
- Entrant’s description (e.g. software developer/academic/entrepreneur /student/other).
- University or company name (if applicable).
- Email address(es)
- Phone number(s).
- City where entrant(s) is/are based.
- All submissions must include a full description of the
project/product/concept in a document written in plain English and up
to a maximum of 1,000 words. Each document should be split into three
separate sections:
- An outline of the problem that your idea addresses; this
could be an issue specific to your city or the country, or this could be
a global issue. These ideas could be related but not limited to
financial inclusion, agriculture and education.
- An explanation of your idea, how it relates to Sustainable
Development Goals, and how it will work; provide clear details about how
your idea will help to solve the problem you’ve outlined in (1) and
demonstrate how the solution provides business and social and/or
environmental value.
- An explanation of how your solution can be scaled into a successful business model.
- The entry or any part of it must not have won any previous awards.
- The entry materials (document and video) must be submitted online via www.unionbank100/challenge.
- Entry begins on 12th April 2017, and ends on 19th May 2017.
- The 3 best ideas from the challenge will be supported to
bring their ideas to life through the CcHub Incubation Programme from
June - December, 2017
Prizes and Incubation process
- The best ideas generated & submitted will leverage Union Bank’s expertise and the reach of its value chain to develop and scale.
- The top 3 ideas will receive immediate cash prizes of 2 million Naira, 1.5 million Naira and 1 million Naira respectively towards the execution
of the idea. Further incubation support will be provided via the
Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) incubation services with full engagement with
Union Bank.
- Over the subsequent six months, the top three ideas will be
supported with a range of services focused on product development,
distribution and business modelling to turn their ideas into fully
working products to launch in late 2017.
- In addition to access to a range of different partners and
mentors from the public and private sectors, winners will also have
access to Union Bank's customers and employees and also leverage Union
Bank’s reach & strategic networks to bring their ideas to life.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should
Click Here to Apply