Victor AyebameruVerified
IQC 2026 Global Champion (WorldQuant press release)
🇳🇬Nigeria
Something in me told me to look into it. I made the decision, signed up, and I'm glad I listened to that voice.
Victor Ayebameru is a Nigerian quant researcher and the champion of the 2026 International Quant Championship (IQC), WorldQuant's global alpha research competition.
He graduated from Adekunle Ajasin University in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Education (Economics). During his National Youth Service year he taught economics at a school while teaching himself data analytics, with plans to earn the CFA and start a career as a financial analyst. Becoming a quant never crossed his mind until he saw an ad for IQC. He signed up, and his turning point came at his first WorldQuant IQC webinar, where he learned how to build his first alpha. Today he works as a WorldQuant BRAIN researcher, with a toolkit that includes Python, SQL, Excel and Power BI.
The 2026 edition of IQC drew around 156,000 registrations, nearly double the previous year, with about 28% of participants coming from Africa. Victor won the Nigeria national stage and reached the Global Finals in Singapore on October 6 and 7, 2026, where 13 teams from 13 universities across four continents built and presented new alphas live in front of a panel of WorldQuant leaders.
Competing solo, Victor took first place, ahead of Ziming Xu (Fudan University) and Chang Yen Tsai (National Taiwan University). The championship carried a $100,000 prize pool. His next goal is to build a quant community in Nigeria and mentor the next generation of Nigerian quants.
Interview
You studied economics in education at Adekunle Ajasin University and were teaching economics until early 2026. How did an economics teacher end up in quant research, and what made you try IQC in the first place?
I have had a big passion for the financial markets ever since I graduated in 2024. I always wanted to know the truth about hedge funds, how portfolios are managed, and how trading works as a whole.
I taught economics at a school while I was serving in the National Youth Service. While serving, I was learning data analytics, and I had plans to get my CFA. I always wanted to start my career as a financial analyst. I never thought about becoming a quant, because it is hard to be a quant and it requires a lot.
Surprisingly, I saw the IQC ads, and something in me told me to look into it. I wanted to learn the truth, so I made the decision and signed up. I'm glad I listened to that voice.
156,000 students and the title goes to Nigeria. Take us through the journey: national stage, then the Global Finals in Singapore. Which moment felt like the turning point?
The turning point was my first attendance at the first webinars hosted by WorldQuant IQC, after which I learned how to make my first alpha.
What was the finals format in Singapore, and how was it different from the online stages? What surprised you the most?
At the finals, you have to present your alpha research methodology and approach, along with your individual and merged performance across the IQC stages and your top 3 alphas.
What was different from the online stages was the surprise statement, and combining all of your alphas to make a super alpha. That is what made it different from the online stages.
Editor's note: According to WorldQuant, finalists developed and presented new alphas in a live challenge before a panel of WorldQuant leaders, judged on originality, quality and diversification.
Your Stealth Genesis project shows an IC of 0.47. Without giving away your edge, how do you approach building an alpha? Where do you start, and how do you decide an idea is worth pursuing?
Stealth Genesis was not an alpha. It was a Python project connected to FRED and yfinance APIs, based on machine learning models, LGBM and XGBoost, for prediction. It was my first casual test using machine learning to predict.
