As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility CSR), integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch Group, has expressed its commitment to continue to promote excellence among Nigerian students through its SPAK Pan African Science Competition.
Unveiling the fifth edition of the competition, Interswitch said that the edition, which begins soon, would further deepen the STEM competence of exceptional students across the country.
STEM is a common abbreviation for four closely connected areas of study: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The company had in the past four years offered a prize pool of N12.5m each year, but over N14m has been earmarked as the prize for the fifth edition this year.
Over 62,000 students had participated in the last four editions from 9,550 schools across the federation.
Founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, said: “InterswitchSPAK is a celebration of our commitment to promoting STEM education in Africa and empowering the next generation of innovators and problem solvers.
“As we commence the fifth edition, we are delighted to have reached this milestone in the competition and assure Africans that more students across the continent will have access to quality STEM education through InterswitchSPAK.”
He said that over the past four editions, the competition has seen remarkable success stories of students who have emerged as winners and have gone on to make significant contributions in various STEM fields.
Executive Vice President, Group Marketing and Corporate Communications at Interswitch, Cherry Eromosele, said: “We are excited to kick off this edition of InterswitchSPAK particularly because it has been five years of visible impact.”
Founder and Group Managing Director of JustMedia, the technical partner of the InterswitchSPAK initiative, Oladapo Ojo, said: “Working on InterswitchSPAK over the years has been an incredible journey for JustMedia. We are proud to be a part of this initiative, which seeks to promote academic excellence and STEM education among secondary school students in Africa.”
The competition, which is open to all senior secondary school students between the ages of 14 and 17 in public and private schools in Nigeria, aims to discover and nurture young students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, with the goal of building a knowledge-based society and promoting sustainable development in Africa.
The finalists will compete for the ultimate prize of N7.5 million in scholarships for a five-year period, a laptop and monthly stipends. The second-place winner will receive N4 million in scholarships for three years, a laptop and monthly stipends. The third-place winner will in turn get N1 million in scholarships for one year, monthly stipends and a laptop. There will also be mentoring opportunities with senior Interswitch employees, as well as other exciting prizes.
