App for unbanked sector wins ‘Sprive’ top Hackathon honour

Efforts to create a smart app, which allows customers to follow investment opportunities, without creating bank accounts, landed ‘Sprive’ a top price in the Fintech for Sustainability hackathon. The app, Sprive said, aimed to include the unbanked and underbanked sector of the population through a smart app. Beam, took the second spot for creating a holistic solution that allows the user to track and manage electricity consumption in addition to bill payment and other functions.

Third place winner DonateTech introduced Bahrain’s first cashless Crypto-philanthropy platform. Besides, the first Fintech for Sustainability hackathon, powered by BENEFIT, conducted online voting for the “People’s Choice Award”. Codex emerged as the winner for introducing a ‘Smart Cart’ solution to help reduce water generated through supermarkets’ supply chain. The month-long Hackathon was hosted by the Bahrain Fintech Bay, in cooperation with various knowledge partners in Bahrain. Winners were announced during a ceremony held at Arcapita Building.

The awards were presented by principal partner BENEFIT, in partnership with The Manama Hub of the Global Shapers Community. Students from various universities in Bahrain came up with 6 solutions that addressed 10 Sustainable Development Goals during the event. The month-long hackathon kicked off in March. Judges included Yasmeen Al Sharaf; Head of the Fintech and Innovation Unit of the Central Bank of Bahrain, Khalid Saad; CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay, Shaheen S. Shaheen; Investment Manager at Osool, and Hanan Hasan, Assistant Manager at BENEFIT.

BENEFIT Acting CEO, Yousif Alnefaiei, said: “This initiative was an impactful journey for our students – they have taken away key lessons and achieved a great milestone.” “The hackathon provided Bahrain’s university students with the opportunity to address real-world challenges sustainably and attain advice from experts in different fields. We will continue to support the students in translating those ideas in commercially-feasible projects,” said Khalid Saad, CEO Bahrain Fintech Bay.