Heirs Insurance Launches Student Hackathon with N9m Innovation Prize Pool

Heirs Insurance Group has launched a national student hackathon aimed at generating technology driven solutions for Nigeria’s insurance industry, offering a total prize pool of N9 million as it seeks to position itself at the intersection of finance, technology, and youth innovation.
The initiative, the company’s first hackathon of this scale, is open to undergraduates and students of polytechnics and other tertiary institutions across the country. It is designed to attract young developers, designers, and data specialists capable of applying digital tools, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to longstanding operational challenges within the insurance value chain.
Heirs Insurance, one of Nigeria’s fastest growing insurers, said the programme reflects a strategic push to harness local talent as the industry adapts to rising customer expectations and a more technology driven marketplace. Insurance penetration in Nigeria remains low by global standards, and industry executives have increasingly pointed to innovation and digital delivery as key to closing that gap.
Participants in the hackathon will be required to develop practical solutions addressing issues such as customer onboarding, claims processing, underwriting efficiency, distribution models, and data analytics. Unlike purely academic competitions, the organisers say the problems presented will mirror real business constraints faced by insurers, with judging criteria focused on feasibility, scalability, and commercial relevance.
The company said the structure of the programme is intended to encourage collaboration, with students forming teams to simulate real world product development environments. Submissions will be assessed not only on technical execution but also on how well they reflect an understanding of customer behaviour and market realities within Nigeria’s insurance landscape.
Registration opened this week and will close on February 16, 2026, with shortlisted teams advancing to a final stage in April. At the conclusion of the programme, the top three teams will share the N9 million prize pool, funding that could help participants further develop their ideas beyond the competition stage.
Executives at Heirs Insurance say the financial incentive is only one part of the value proposition. Participants will also gain access to mentors drawn from the insurance and technology sectors, as well as exposure to industry leaders who could play a role in shaping future careers or partnerships.
To support the technical depth of the programme, Heirs Insurance has partnered with Redtech, the digital payment solutions subsidiary of Heirs Holdings. Redtech will provide technical guidance, review submissions, and assist in evaluating whether proposed solutions can be deployed at scale within a regulated financial services environment.
The partnership underscores a broader strategy within the Heirs Holdings ecosystem to encourage cross sector collaboration between finance and technology businesses. By involving a payments and technology arm in the process, the organisers aim to ensure that ideas are assessed through both a technical and commercial lens.
Mentors from Heirs Insurance, Redtech, and partner organisations will work with participating teams throughout the programme, offering guidance on product design, artificial intelligence use cases, and approaches to scaling solutions for mass adoption. Organisers say this mentorship component is intended to bridge the gap between academic training and industry expectations.
“This hackathon reflects our broader focus on youth empowerment and digital skills development,” said Peace O. Philips, Chief Digital Officer at Heirs Insurance Group. “By giving students the opportunity to apply their ideas to real economic challenges, we are helping to build the next generation of African innovators.”
Industry analysts say initiatives of this nature could also help reshape how younger Nigerians perceive insurance, a sector often seen as complex or inaccessible. By involving students directly in problem solving, insurers may foster greater engagement with a demographic that has traditionally been underserved by formal financial products.
The hackathon forms part of a wider set of educational and community focused initiatives undertaken by Heirs Insurance Group in recent years, including scholarship programmes and financial literacy forums. These efforts reflect a longer term strategy to build brand relevance while contributing to skills development in a rapidly evolving economy.