Across Nigeria's markets, neighbourhood stores and roadside shops, extending credit to trusted customers is an everyday part of business. Yet for many traders, keeping track of who owes what still depends on handwritten notebooks, records that can easily be misplaced, damaged or become difficult to manage as transactions grow.
It was this familiar challenge that inspired 17-year-old Nigerian software developer Abdullah Ajala to create an artificial intelligence tool capable of modernising one of the country's oldest business practices.
His answer was PayWise, an AI-powered assistant integrated into WhatsApp that enables traders and small business owners to record customer debts using voice notes in their preferred languages. Once the information is received, the platform automatically logs each transaction, tracks outstanding balances, sends payment reminders and updates records after debts have been settled.
The innovation proved compelling enough to earn Ajala the top prize at the Nomba x DevCareer Hackathon, where he outperformed more than 1,000 participants to win $4,000.
For Ajala, choosing WhatsApp was never in doubt.
"That's where these business owners already are," he said, explaining that most traders already rely on the platform to communicate with customers and suppliers.
Building PayWise, however, presented a major technical challenge as the platform had to accurately understand voice notes spoken in Nigerian languages, including Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa, while preserving accents, context and meaning.
The young innovator said the experience reshaped his understanding of product development. Beyond writing code, he learned that successful products must be tested with real users to ensure they genuinely address everyday needs. Looking ahead, he plans to expand the platform's wallet functionality.
Reflecting on the experience, Ajala said one of the programme's greatest advantages was giving participants access to the same infrastructure used by Nomba's merchants.
"Nomba gave us the same infrastructure their merchants actually run on, the same checkout, the same transfers, the same webhooks, not a version built for a demo, and that's what forces you to build something that has to hold up the way theirs does," he said.
Ajala's victory came after weeks of intensive work during the five-week Nomba x DevCareer Hackathon, which was designed to encourage market-ready products rather than experimental concepts. During the main build challenge, held from June 30 to July 7, participants received full access to Nomba's API ecosystem, including checkout services, virtual accounts, transfers and webhooks.
Entrants competed across two categories, the Build Track and Infrastructure Track, with organisers encouraging them to create products capable of serving real customers from day one.
The hackathon attracted more than 1,000 developers. Following a rigorous selection process, only 10 participants reached the shortlist before three winning teams were announced.
Ajala's PayWise claimed first place and the $4,000 grand prize. Second place went to Glasspot, which received $1,500 for developing a money-pooling platform inspired by Nigeria's long-established informal group savings culture. The platform enables users to contribute to a shared pool and access funds according to agreed rules, including savings targets, scheduled dates or approvals from fellow members.
Third place was awarded to Paye, a payment-routing platform built for developers. The product enables merchants to integrate multiple payment gateways, including Nomba, through a single connection instead of maintaining separate integrations with each provider. It also allows businesses to switch active payment gateways without changing their code, provision virtual accounts and receive consistent webhook notifications regardless of which provider processes a transaction.
According to Nomba's Vice President of Product, Jafer Shariff, the event was intentionally designed to encourage participants to create businesses rather than showcase prototypes.
"The aim was never to just build something to demo," Shariff said. "The aim was to ship something live, something customers can actually use and enjoy, and maybe something that becomes the foundation of a business for the developers themselves."
Nomba said every finalist successfully delivered a live product and has been encouraged to continue refining and expanding their innovations after the event.
For the company's Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Pelumi Aboluwarin, PayWise demonstrated the value of exposing participants to production-grade systems.
"What separates a hackathon build from something you'd trust with real money is whether it survives the same scrutiny we put our own systems through, and PayWise did," Aboluwarin said.
"Abdullah worked with the same checkout, accounts and webhooks our merchants run on, and still turned voice notes in Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa into something a business owner could track."
Nomba said the hackathon was created to encourage participants to build products using its platform while strengthening the pipeline of innovators driving Nigeria's fintech ecosystem. In addition to competing for prizes, participants received certifications, affiliate revenue-sharing opportunities and continued access to the company's developer ecosystem.
Ajala's success further showcases the growing confidence, creativity and technical capability of Nigeria's young innovators, whose ideas are increasingly addressing real challenges with practical, homegrown solutions. As more breakthroughs emerge from the country's technology ecosystem, they continue to reinforce Nigeria's position as one of Africa's leading centres for digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
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