Busha Business Launches Hackathon with ₦1M Prize Pool for Student Developers
The competition invites young engineering teams to build real-world applications using Busha’s licensed payment and stablecoin API infrastructure.
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What To Know:
- Busha Business has opened applications for a student-focused hackathon across South West Nigeria.
- Participants will get sandbox access to Busha’s licensed payment and stablecoin infrastructure across three distinct tracks: Commerce & Payments, Financial Access, and The Gig Economy.
- Applications close on October 29, with the top 10 teams advancing to a physical Build Day at the Busha office.
- Rewards include cash prizes up to ₦1 million for first place, ₦750,000 for second place, and ₦500,000 for third place.
Nigerian digital asset exchange platform Busha, through its institutional arm, Busha Business, has launched a hackathon targeting student developers across South West Nigeria.
The competition invites young engineering teams to build real-world applications using Busha’s licensed payment and stablecoin API infrastructure. The initiative aims to reduce the technical friction involved in building local financial products, posing the core challenge: “What would you build if the infrastructure wasn’t the problem?”
The company announced the Build challenge on X, with applications open until October 29.
Who Can Apply and How It Works
Participants must be current university students in South West Nigeria and apply in teams of three. Membership of a Google Developer Group (GDG) chapter is encouraged but not required. Teams apply through their GDG chapter or directly, then complete a short screening exercise. Only the top 10 advance to Build Day, a one-day event at Busha’s office. The date and venue are still to be confirmed by organisers.
Participating teams can submit proposals across three key tracks focused on practical African market needs:
- Commerce & Payments: Building improved rails for individuals and local businesses to accept payments, move funds, and process collections.
- Financial Access: Developing solutions that expand the reach of secure digital financial services to underserved populations.
- The Gig Economy: Structuring payment and money management tools tailored for independent workers, creators, and remote freelancers.
Prizes and Support
Selected builders will receive API sandbox access, developer documentation, and a guided walkthrough with Busha engineers. The top three winning teams will take home cash prizes of ₦1,000,000, ₦750,000, and ₦500,000 respectively.
Beyond monetary rewards, Busha says standout participants will gain access to its engineering mentorship and enter its talent pipeline for future career opportunities within the company.
Why This Matters
Busha was among the first crypto firms to receive a provisional SEC licence in Nigeria. Busha Business, its B2B arm, serves more than 1,500 businesses across Nigeria and Kenya, and in July it announced a collaboration with Tether to widen access to licensed stablecoin infrastructure.
The hackathon puts that licensed infrastructure in front of students who would otherwise rarely get production-grade tools. By opening its production-ready API rails to university developers, Busha is lowering the barrier to entry for the next generation of African fintech and Web3 builders.
As Nigeria’s regulatory frameworks mature, the focus is rapidly shifting toward deploying functional software. For Nigeria’s crypto sector, it also helps find developers who can build compliant products, which matters as regulators push firms toward licensed operations.
