Sarah Nicole Celadenia, News, Communication Management Office
Two teams from the ݮƵ (PUP) – College of Accountancy and Finance (CAF) earned top spots at the 2025 BSP Youth Financial Inclusion Congress - Youth Financial Inclusion Hackathon held on April 2, 2025, at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Head Office.
The event brought together students from over 22 universities, including De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines Diliman, and University of San Carlos, to develop digital solutions for financial inclusion.
The PentAgila group, composed of second year Financial Management students Caitlin Faith A. Hashimoto, Marjorie B. Cabato, and Bart Patrick J. Familar secured the first place for their project AniKansya, a digital savings platform designed for Filipino farmers with seasonal income, featuring automated savings and voice-guided navigation for accessibility.
On the other hand, JVFC Malaya, which consisted of fourth year Accounting, Financial Management, and Management Accounting students Jayson F. Santiago, Jose Manuel M. Lapesora, Csean Chloe B. Olleta, Frederick Gabriel A. Ramos, and Veniz C. Velasquez, earned fifth for their project TeknOffline: Bayad Mo, Puwede Nang Offline!, an alternative mobile payment service that enables offline payments, supports small businesses, and addresses connectivity issues in rural areas.
According to Santiago, the JVFC team leader, the competition demonstrated the university’s commitment to creating a competitive environment and providing quality education that encourage students to aim for excellence and explore more opportunities.
Also, with support through funding, feedback, and mentorship from advisers Dr. Ria S. Fajilago, Dr. Michael Bryan G. De Castro, Prof. Rolando I. Fernandez, and Prof. Gem B. Galupar, both teams were able to refine their ideas, gather resources, training, secure funding, and receive critical feedback at every practice to help improve their project and ideas.
“This win serves as an inspiration to other students proving that with creativity and collaboration, they, too, can innovate and contribute to financial inclusion,” Hashimoto, the team leader of PentAgila, stated.
The team’s success at the 2025 BSP YFI Hackathon sets the stage for promising developments ahead, with the potential for continued project development and real-world testing. These plans focus on refining functionality based on user feedback, exploring partnerships to broaden the solutions’ reach, and conducting pilot tests in rural areas to ensure practical applicability and promote wider adoption.
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