By Our Reporter
The MTN MoMo Hackathon has come to an end with the top three teams of developers walking away with assorted cash prizes to further invest in their ideas that are set to accelerate financial inclusion in the country.
The two months long Hackathon executed by MTN MoMo Uganda Limited in partnership with the Outbox hub attracted 149 applications who went through various checks and tests bringing the number down to 12 applicants from which the top three winners were selected following a pitch to a panel of seasoned judges from MTN MoMo and Outbox hub.
E-wage—an online payroll system for casual workers, MpaMpe—a hybrid crowdfunding application, and M-Pay—an e-wallet for paying out multiple subscribers with a single transaction, had the top 3 innovations that emerged as winners of the Hackathon that was held under the theme “Innovative financial and transactional applications”.
Team e-wage that came first walked away with the grand cash prize of 5,000 USD, Team MpaMpe which came 2nd won 3,000 USD while the 3 rd team, M-Pay won 2,000 USD courtesy of MTN MoMo Uganda Limited. The money will be used as seed capital for the winners to invest in their innovations.
Speaking at the event, Richard Yego, the MTN MoMo Uganda Ltd Managing Director said that with more people appreciating digital financial services, such applications will further bridge the financial inclusion gap and deliver more seamless customer experiences.
“Tech-based financial solutions and applications are becoming increasingly necessary as more people are beginning to appreciate the use of such life-changing innovations. It is against this background that MTN decided to give third parties access to its mobile money programming Interface to enable them develop such vital solutions without facing the cost of building and maintaining new APIs,” Yego said.
Yego further noted that as MTN Uganda grows its service offering, they aim to create a marketplace that supports cashless and digital economies through affordable, inclusive, understandable and comprehensive financial services.
In his remarks, Richard Zulu, founding member and team lead at Outbox emphasized the importance of hackathons for playing a role in creating interest and providing a foundation for software engineers and developers.
“Our mandate is to link developers and aspiring entrepreneurs to opportunities that expose them to learn about what other developers across MTN’s footprint and beyond are doing to inspire innovations that will drive Africa’s progress. I implore developers to utilize such opportunities to network as that is how learning and growth happens”, Zulu said.
In addition to the cash prizes, the three selected teams will utilize the MTN MoMo open API to integrate their product into the current MTN MoMo offering, which will create a wider range of digital financial offerings for MTN’s customers.
However, all the twelve teams that participated in the pitch day will get access to the MTN Global Community Developer group where they will have first-hand experience on how to code for projects on a wider market.
