OCBC holds industry's first one-person company hackathon for 33,000 employees

At a glance

• Close to three-quarters of submissions were developed by employees from non-technology functions
• The OCBC OPC Hackathon was designed to strengthen a test-and-learn culture across the Group.
• The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) will select promising prototypes for further development by the SIT x NVIDIA AI Technology Centre (SNAIC).

Singapore, 26 October 2026 – With Artificial Intelligence, Digital and Data (ADD) at the core of OCBC's Next Frontier strategy, OCBC held the industry’s first One-Person Company (OPC) Hackathon on 22 October 2026 at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). This draws on the rise of One-Person Companies globally, where entrepreneurs harness only AI agents to start and run businesses. While the OPC concept centres on a single individual, the OPC Hackathon allowed teams of up to three to help employees overcome the fear of using AI agents. 

Within weeks, thousands of submissions were received, with close to three-quarters developed by employees from non-technology functions. This reflects the growing eagerness of employees across all job functions to learn and apply AI as AI becomes increasingly used in the workplace. 

The thousands of submissions were screened by internally built AI agents to help identify promising ideas. OCBC AI Champions then assessed more than 400 prototypes to determine the final 10 that were showcased at SIT’s Ho Bee Auditorium on 22 October 2026.   

A panel of six judges – Mr Tan Teck Long, Group CEO of OCBC; Associate Professor Indriyati Atmosukarto of SIT’s Infocomm Technology Cluster and Deputy Director of the SIT Teaching & Learning Academy; Ms Carina Lee, Group Chief Risk Officer, OCBC; Mr Sunny Quek, Head of Global Consumer Financial Services, OCBC; Mr Praveen Raina, Head of Group Operations and Technology, OCBC; and Mr Tan Chor Sen, CEO of OCBC Malaysia – selected the winning prototypes that reimagined how work is done and showcased how AI, digital and data can deliver outsized impact.

In today’s fast-evolving AI landscape, the OCBC OPC Hackathon becomes an important platform to cultivate an ADD-first mindset and strengthen a test-and-learn culture that encourages experimentation, innovation and continuous improvement across the Group.

Organised in partnership with SIT, the initiative will continue beyond the competition itself. It builds on OCBC's collaboration with SIT in Punggol Digital District, where close proximity enables greater interaction between industry and academia to tackle real-world challenges together. Recognising the potential of several submissions, SIT will select promising prototypes for further development at the SIT x NVIDIA AI Technology Centre by teams of researchers, faculty members and students. This will allow the concepts to be further refined and brought closer to real-world implementation by the Bank. The collaboration will also enable students to apply classroom learning to industry challenges while contributing to solutions that address practical business needs.

Four winners – the top three from the team category and the winner of the individual category – were crowned at the Grand Final. Details of the winning solutions can be found in Annex A. Solutions were assessed based on innovation, business impact and alignment with OCBC's strategic priorities.

OCBC Group CEO, Tan Teck Long, said: “At the core of our Next Frontier strategy is AI, Digital and Data (ADD), and the best way to build these skills is by doing. That’s why we launched the inaugural OCBC One-Person Company Hackathon. When one person, or a small team of three, can use ADD to do what once took an entire unit, it is a powerful reminder that innovation can come from anyone, anywhere in the Group. The Grand Final is just the beginning. With the expertise of the professors and students from SIT, our strategic partner and neighbour in Punggol Digital District, we will explore how some of the most promising ideas from our top 10 can make the leap from concept to real-world impact. 

“Technology is moving rapidly. Organisations must build a strong test-and-learn culture that empowers employees to experiment boldly, push boundaries, learn quickly and fail fast.”

Responding to the hackathon, Professor Susanna Leong, Deputy President (Academic) & Provost, Singapore Institute of Technology, said: " What is exciting about the OCBC One-Person Company Hackathon is that the collaboration continues beyond the competition. SIT will further develop and refine selected prototypes, giving our students the opportunity to apply their learning to real-world business challenges while helping move promising ideas closer to implementation. This is how we bring industry and academia closer together and advance SIT’s vision as Singapore’s University for Industry." 

Nevin Allen Marian, winner of the Individual category and a data analytics intern with OCBC Global Consumer Financial Services

Team SERAP, winners of the Team category - (from left) Chandra Liuswanto, Faris Ramadhan and Nilophar Joglekar from OCBC Indonesia