HackJos Returns as nHub Marks 10th Anniversary of Driving Innovation in Nigeria’s North

Nuel Umahi

When HackJos first launched in 2015, it was a bold attempt to rally young innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs in northern Nigeria to solve real-life challenges. The debut edition made headlines after crowning Nnamdi Ibe (now Founder and CEO of Axia Hub in Jos), Emmanuel Okorie, and Bebeyi Abiodun as its first winners, out of 30 developers in nine teams from Jos, Abuja, and Bauchi who worked on web, desktop, hardware, and mobile projects. 

This set the tone for what was possible when innovation met ambition.

The spark continued into HackJos 2016, which returned with even greater momentum. The hackathon didn’t stop there. 2017 and 2018 saw further editions, consolidating HackJos as a consistent annual gathering of innovators. By 2019, the event had evolved into HackJosCon, hosted at Jos Business School.

Then came 2020—the year it did not hold. The disruption was most likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which also forced other headline events in Jos, such as the Social Media for Social Good conference by Tomruk iHub, to cancel. The silence marked a pause, but not an end.

nHub, northern Nigeria’s pioneering innovation hub and the organisers of the hackathon, spent the intervening years focusing on strengthening the region’s startup ecosystem—investing in talent, training young developers, and creating a more sustainable foundation for innovation. The lessons learned during this hiatus now fuel the foundation behind the return of HackJos in 2025.

The HackJos challenge-driven hackathon is bringing together tech-savvy citizens, scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, students, programmers, and developers across Nigeria to showcase their ingenuity in creating solutions, spanning mobile, desktop, web, and hardware (embedded systems), to solve problems relevant to key sectors of the Nigerian economy.

From October 22 to 24, HackJos will make its comeback with the theme “Igniting MSME Growth through Innovation.” The focus could not be more timely. Nigeria’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the backbone of its economy, continue to face numerous challenges, including limited access to finance and markets, operational inefficiencies, and a lack of digital tools.

HackJos is not just a hackathon—it’s a movement to solve real problems, spark new ideas, and empower the businesses that hold up our economy

Theodore Longji, CEO of nHub.

The sixth edition will challenge participants to collaborate intensively on solutions across four key tracks: Digitalisation & E-commerce, Financial Inclusion, Productivity & Operational Efficiency, and Market Access & Linkages.

Over two days, teams will design, build, and pitch solutions before investors, industry experts, and policymakers. A parallel tech conference will feature thought-provoking conversations on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of MSMEs.

What makes HackJos 2025 different from its earlier editions is not just its scale but also its alignment with nHub’s 10th Anniversary. For the past decade, nHub has quietly nurtured northern Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem, training young developers, supporting startups, and driving digital inclusion. This milestone signals assurance: HackJos is not returning as a one-off event but as part of a long-term strategy to power entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

This return is also a promise: that HackJos won’t pause again. With the combined momentum of nHub’s decade-long impact and renewed national urgency around MSME growth, organisers are committed to ensuring continuity and sustainability.

Developers, creatives, founders, and partners are now invited to join the challenge. HackJos 2025 is more than a competition—it’s a chance to shape the future of Nigeria’s economy, one solution at a time.

Applications are open at www.hackjos.com.ng