MTN has awarded the champions in the MTN MoMo Hackathon, a Fintech innovation challenge.
Three teams were awarded in the MTN Hackathon 2022 grand finale held at Outbox Hub on September 23, 2022.
The three winning teams walked away with cash prizes amounting to 10,000 USD courtesy of MTN MoMo Uganda Limited, which they will invest in rolling out their innovations.
Team e-wage, Team MpaMpe and Team M-Pay had the top 3 innovations that emerged as winners of the Hackathon held under the theme: “Innovative financial and transactional applications.”
The teams walked away with cash prizes of USD 5000, USD 3000 and USD 2000 respectively.
Kisa Ivan, a Bachelors in commerce student at MUBS and one of the brains behind the winning innovation E-wage, told the Bee that they will ensure that the app is adopted by everyone.
“My friends out there, we are going to make sure that this system is adopted by everyone and this system really comes to life and this will help get into the market and be very good people. Thank you to all my friends,” Kisa Ivan said.
Speaking at the event, Richard Yego, the MTN MoMo Uganda Ltd Managing Director said that with more people appreciating digital financial services, such application 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.” He said.
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 today following a pitch to a panel of seasoned judges from MTN MoMo and Outbox hub.
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