EKO INNOVATION CENTER
AND GDM GROUP CALL FOR TECHNOLOGICLAL INNOVATION TO DISRUPT MARKETING LANDSCAPE.

MARTKHACK 1.0: LiveBIc Clinches First Prize, has proven to be game changing and a first-of-its-kind in the Nigerian
media and marketing space winning innovations have emerged at the grand
finale of the maiden edition of Nigeria’s first marketing and media Hackathon
tagged ‘MarkHack 1.0’ organized by the Eko Innovation Centre in
collaboration with GDM Group.

LiveBIc, which comprised Shadrach Akao and Ernest Ogbanefe emerged
the overall winners from a list of 10 finalists involved in the pitch at the finals
of the hackathon, The media's at the press release gathered that
LiveBIc won the star prize of $10,000 for developing a new
platform for content creators to market and deliver their content, Sprayme clinched the second position and $4,000 prize money for
innovating a new way for social gifting and content monetization, Reelbuzz
emerged the third winner with $3,000 for creating an intuitive platform that
helps brands connect and command higher brand loyalty, Innovatoras took
the fourth position as well as $2,000 prize money for directing the leads for businesses and turning them to paying customers and Monify Cookies fifth
position with $1,000 for developing a browser tool that provides its users the
ability to block all unsolicited ads and earn money from allowed ads.

The winners and runners-up will also get working space at Eko Innovation
Centre, while all ten (10) finalists will have access to join the EIC accelerator
program and GITEX Global pitch event in Dubai.
Recall, that the best 10 teams with the most viable concepts went head-to-head at the finale for the $20,000 prize pool and an acceleration programme
with up to $50K equity investment to get their products ready for the market among other benefits.

Speaking on the initiative and what inspired it, Victor Afolabi, Founder, of Eko Innovation Centre, and Curator MarkHack 1.0 said, MarkHack 1.0 is a gathering of innovators, entrepreneurs, Policymakers, and Marketing
Professionals, to create solutions to real-life Marketing challenges in an intense period of time. Using creativity, technology, and mentoring, resulting
in prototypes, fresh new concepts, and innovative usages of tech for
Marketing and Media.

He added that “Seeing how technology has disrupted global industries all
over the world, we perceived that the marketing and media industry was ripe
for disruption. However, they are two things, it is either we collaborate with stakeholders in the industry to create the disruption we anticipate or we allow disruption to happen to us, and we choose to do the former.
“The former involves working with over 100 organisations and
representatives from the various organisations to co-create together and
disrupt that which we anticipate. That co-creation gave birth to what we call
MarkHack. We brought together experts in the industry across sectorial
groups from clients, agencies, professionals, technology experts, venture
capitalists, policymakers, regulators and we all came together to come to create the MarkHack,” he said.
On his part, Hakeem Popoola Fahm, Commissioner of Science and
Technology, Lagos State applauded the organizers for the laudable initiative
and stated that it is a testament to the success of Governor, Babajide Sanwo-
Olu's commitment to making Lagos a smart city by digitalizing its operations
and providing an enabling environment for technology innovations to be
given birth to. He added that MarkHack 1.0 has shown that Marketers and
media practitioners can digitalize operations and the state government would
continue to support the ecosystem.
Similarly, the Special Adviser, Innovation and Technology to the Governor of
Lagos State, Tubosun Alake said the government has been supporting
various research works through Lagos State Science Research and
Innovation Council (LASRIC) across multiple industries including the
marketing industry and it won’t rest on its oars in actualizing the smart city
agenda of the present administration.

Earlier in the programme, the President of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Idorenyen Enang while delivering his keynote address at
the event urged marketers to continue to innovate, and know how to use their
channels effectively. He had also emphasized that marketing is not merely
about integrated marketing communication, adding that innovators require to
follow laid-down principles of marketing.
Similarly, in a fireside chat, Franklin Ozekhome, CEO & Head of Growth,
Identiture Africa; Seyi Tinubu, CEO/Chairman, Loatsad Promomedia; and Muyiwa Aleshinloye, Head of Marketing, Wakanow called on marketers to take advantage of technology to grow their brands as Metaverse, Artificial
Intelligence, and others are being deployed to ease business operations.

The organizers of the event, Eko Innovation Centre and GDM Group
revealed that over 500 individuals registered to participate in the hackathon
from 72 locations, 5 countries (which includes Nigeria, California- USA,
Kenya, Pakistan, and London), and 3 continents (Africa, Europe, and North
America).
The participants were split into teams of 5 and were required to work together
for 3 weeks, brainstorm, and come up with new concepts based on their
areas of focus. They were also sub-grouped into 8 focus areas which include consumer experience, media consumption, consumer recruitment and
interaction, trade and retail engagement, analytics and metrics, events
marketing, media monetization, and content creation.
Each team pitched their ideas to a respected Jury of experts in the subject
matter, and the best 10 teams were picked by the Jurors before only five
emerged winners at the grand finale. Overall, the hackathon had 21 Mentors,
30 Selection Jurors, 8 Speakers, and 8 Final Jurors who partook in the event
and are the industry’s best with decades of experience in marketing, media, technology, and business management and others.

The winners were judged by professionals which include Steve Babaeko,
CEO/Chief Creative Officer, X3M Ideas and President Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria; Iquo Ukoh, Director, Board of Directors, Letshego Microfinance Bank Ltd; Uwem Uwemakpan, Cofounder of
Ingressive Capital; Tolulope Tomori Adedeji, Marketing Director, Anheuser-
Busch InBev; and Debola Williams, Group CEO at Red Africa.
Others are Joseph Agunbiade, Cofounder, BudgIt; Kayode Oladapo,
Assistant Regional Manager for Zone AOA (Africa, Oceania, and Asia),
Nestle; and Jide Sipe, Head, Marketing and Corporate Communication,
Ecobank Nigeria

@VONNEWS
PRINCESS AGBONIFO