Celebrating Culture and Creativity: Meet the Winners of The Switch 2024 Independence Day EPICC Challenge

Here at The Switch, culture is the foundation of everything we do. Guided by our EPICC values —Ethical Conduct, People Empowerment, Innovation, Collaboration, and Customer Success —and driven by our vision of a prosperous Africa, we strive to do the right thing all the time, first time, with speedy execution and accuracy because we believe we are in this together.

This October, we marked Nigeria’s Independence Day in true Interswitch fashion, celebrating our rich cultural heritage and demonstrating our team spirit. Everyone was encouraged to dress in their favourite traditional attire, with a special competition to showcase style and creativity. The event was filled with excitement, including photoshoots, and individual and team performances with a myriad of prizes for winners.

The competition categories included Best Dressed Male, Best Dressed Female, Best Dressed Team, and the EPICC Challenge, where participants created a short video expressing what “We Are in This Together,” a key theme for us in this season, meant to them.

In this edition of #SwitchStories, we feature the winners: Oluwatosin Ajala, Gbade Abodunrin, Precious Akhimien, and the Paytoken Team. They share the inspiration behind their outfits, performances, and their favourite aspects of Nigeria.

Oluwatosin Ajala

Operations Executive.

Winner, Best Dressed Female

What inspired your Independence Day dressing and what culture did you represent?

Interestingly, it was not an easy decision because of Nigeria’s cultural diversity, and that is one thing I like about our dear country. But I was inspired to represent the Northern part of the country, as we don’t see that a lot. So, I represented the Hausa-Fulani tribe.

What’s your favourite thing about Nigeria?

How our global talents sail above and beyond in most fields of endeavour. It’s quite outstanding, despite the challenges that we face in our society. It makes me feel proud to be a Nigerian.

What’s a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?

I had to run a Zobo and Kunu drink business for about a year all by myself in my local church when I could not get paid employment after my NYSC.

Gbade Abodunrin

Divisional Head, Enterprise Risk Management

Winner, Best Dressed Male

What inspired your Independence Day attire and what culture did you represent?

The inspiration for my Independence Day attire was a milestone birthday photo shoot I had a few weeks before the contest. The attire was what I wore for the shoot, and the pictures looked really great. So, when this competition was announced, it was a case of preparation meeting with opportunity. I represented the South-Western part of Nigeria, the Oyo Kingdom to be precise.

What’s your favourite thing about Nigeria?

The rich and diverse culture.

What’s a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?

Well, it’s not so much fun. I am Acrophobic.

Paytoken Team

Amirah Ayeni (Product Manager); Ifeanyi Kachikwu (Project Manager); Adebayo Adebisi (Software Engineer); Mary Uwadione (Project Manager); Ijeoma Onyiuke (Program Manager); Mayowa Onaolapo (Associate Product Manager); Ugo Anayo (Software Engineer); Opeyemi Bakare (Associate Product Manager); Olamide Balogun (QA Engineer); Onyinye Onyeagba (Associate Product Manager); Oluchukwu Okwuibe (Software Engineer); Elijah Bello (Product Manager); Lukman Audu (Product Manager); Olamilekan Solanke (Scrum Master)

Winner, Best Dressed Team

What inspired your Independence Day attires and what culture did you represent?

We represented the Fulani, Igbo, Hausa, Urhobo and Yoruba cultures. The diversity in our team’s dressing reflects how diverse our Nigerian cultures are. We wanted to show that although we come from different cultural backgrounds, we share a common vision and hope for a better Nigeria.

What’s your team’s message of hope for Nigeria

Nigeria like many other countries is facing obstacles on its path to prosperity. On this journey, we encourage each and every Nigerian to be their brother's keeper, be the change you wish to see in governance, and be positive in your thinking, and nothing will be impossible.

Together, we can create a Nigeria we are proud of- prosperous, peaceful, and a source of hope for Africa.

#WeAreInThisTogether

Precious Akhimien

System Administrator

Winner, EPICC Challenge

What inspired your Independence Day creative performance and how were you able to put it together within such a short time?

Honestly, the prize money was my biggest motivation. Immediately after I saw the email on September 27th, I knew I wanted to do a spoken word piece about togetherness. My imagination ran wild about the concept. I initially thought of using different scenes like a market, roadside, or within an office, but I did not have a single line of poetry yet. I kept postponing the actual writing. Eventually, I had to stay up all night on October 1st, writing, recording, deleting, and editing. I have to say the pressure really helped.

After work on October 2^nd and after almost giving up from seeing the breathtaking outfits, pictures and videos of many people, I decided to use our Interswitch building 3 for the video and was able to film the whole thing in about 45 minutes.

How long have you been a spoken word performer?

I have always loved the art of spoken word. Whenever there was an opportunity to do something creative in church or school, I would always opt for spoken word. But this was my first big motivation to take it as a serious endeavour, beyond a hobby.

What’s your favourite thing about Nigeria?

Our soups. Imagine life without Banga or Okro?

What’s a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?

I am the firstborn and also the lastborn. If you know, you know.