Discover Africa's Talking: Info Session for Developers in Mombasa

Africa’s Talking gives developers a simpler way to build communication and engagement into their applications using APIs for services such as SMS, USSD, Voice, WhatsApp, Airtime, and Mobile Data. In Kenya, developers can access SMS, USSD, Voice, WhatsApp, Airtime and Mobile Data services through the platform.

This meetup is an opportunity for developers, students, founders, and tech enthusiasts in Mombasa to discover what Africa’s Talking offers, understand how its APIs can be used in real-world products, and connect with other builders in the coastal developer community.

- What can you build when your application can communicate with users beyond the browser?
- How can SMS, USSD, Voice and WhatsApp become part of your next product?
- And what should the Mombasa developer community build and learn together next?

The session will combine an introduction to Africa’s Talking, product walkthroughs, real-world use cases, a short hands-on demonstration, and an open community discussion. The goal is not to spend the morning coding, but to help developers understand the possibilities, get started, and identify what the community needs next.

Date: August 29, 2026

Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Venue: Kidi Robotic Nyali, Mombasa Kenya

Agenda:

9:00 AM – Arrival, Registration & Networking

Meet fellow developers, students, founders, and tech enthusiasts from Mombasa and the wider coastal region.

9:30 AM – Welcome & Community Introduction

Introduction to the Africa’s Talking community, the Mombasa developer ecosystem, and what we hope to build together.

9:45 AM – Discover Africa’s Talking

An overview of Africa’s Talking, its developer platform, APIs, SDKs, and how developers can use communication infrastructure to build solutions for African users.

10:15 AM – Africa’s Talking Products & Use Cases

Explore practical applications of:

• SMS & Two-Way SMS

• USSD

• Voice

• WhatsApp

• Airtime

• Mobile Data

We’ll look at how these tools can support customer engagement, notifications, accessibility, fintech, education, commerce, tourism, and other real-world applications.

10:50 AM – Short Hands-On: Build Your First Africa’s Talking Prototype

A guided introduction to the Africa’s Talking Sandbox. Participants will see how to set up an application and interact with one of the APIs without spending the session building a complete project. The Sandbox provides developers with resources for testing services such as SMS, USSD, Payments, Voice and Airtime in a simulated environment.

11:20 AM – Developer Stories, Questions & Open Discussion

What are developers building? Where are they getting stuck? What opportunities exist for using communication APIs in local products?

12:00 PM – What Should We Build Next in Mombasa?

An interactive community conversation around the next Africa’s Talking Mombasa event.

Should we run a Hackathon focused on building real solutions with Africa’s Talking APIs?

Or should we start with a Study Jam where developers learn the APIs together through guided sessions and smaller projects?

We’ll gather ideas, interests, preferred topics, and potential themes from the community.

12:40 PM – Community Networking & Next Steps

Connect with other developers, share ideas, join the community, and identify opportunities to collaborate beyond the event.

1:00 PM – Close

Focus Areas:

- Building communication features into applications

- USSD and solutions for users beyond smartphones and constant internet access

- SMS, WhatsApp and customer engagement

- Voice-powered applications

- Combining Africa’s Talking APIs with AI and other technologies

- Building practical solutions for the African market

- Growing the Mombasa developer community

Who Should Attend:

This event is open to software developers, students, data scientists, AI builders, startup founders, designers, tech enthusiasts, and anyone interested in learning how APIs can be used to build practical solutions.

You don't need to be an Africa’s Talking expert to attend. Whether you are discovering the platform for the first time or already building with APIs, this session is designed to help you connect, learn, and find opportunities to build with others.

What to Bring:

- A laptop if you would like to follow along during the short hands-on session.

- Questions, ideas, and problems you would like to solve.

- An interest in connecting with other developers in Mombasa.

Attendance is free, but registration is required to secure your spot.

The Bigger Goal

This is more than an introduction to a set of APIs.

We want to build an active Africa’s Talking developer community in Mombasa, a space where developers can learn together, build together, share ideas, and create solutions for real problems.

Africa’s Talking community events are designed to bring developers together to learn, exchange knowledge, build solutions, give feedback, and explore opportunities.

Come discover the platform. Meet the community. And help us decide what we build next.