A 17-year-old developer, Abdullah Ajala, beat over 1,000 participants to win the top $4,000 prize at the 5-week Nomba x DevCareer Hackathon for his creation of PayWise, an AI-driven credit sales tracking tool for informal small businesses.
The competition required developers to build live, production-ready solutions integrated into Nomba’s API infrastructure (checkout, virtual accounts, webhooks, and transfers).
Hackathon Winners & Product Breakdown
| Place | Product Name | Founder / Developer | Key Solution & Technical Features | Prize |
| 1st Place | PayWise | Abdullah Ajala (17) | An AI assistant integrated into WhatsApp allowing market traders to record customer credit/debts via voice notes in local Nigerian languages (Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa). The system auto-logs transactions and triggers payment reminders. | $4,000 |
| 2nd Place | Glasspot | Shortlisted Team | A digital money-pooling platform inspired by traditional Nigerian group savings (Ajo/Esusu), allowing scheduled rotational withdrawals and member-approved payouts. | $1,500 |
| 3rd Place | Paye | Shortlisted Team | A developer-focused payment routing gateway enabling merchants to switch active payment processors (including Nomba) seamlessly via a single unified API integration. | Top Shortlist Package |
