The Telecommunications Hackathon is a groundbreaking event focused on transforming how Africa connects, communicates, and delivers services over telecom networks. Across the continent, connectivity remains constrained by network coverage gaps, high data costs, fragmented customer engagement channels, and telcos/ISPs/MVNOs operating without modern digital tools to serve subscribers at scale. This hackathon invites developers, designers, data scientists, and entrepreneurs to build practical, scalable solutions tailored to the realities of African telecommunications.

With access to Africa's Talking APIs, mentorship, and a community of innovators, participants will build across key areas of telecom technology, delivering solutions that are impactful, inclusive, and market-ready.

Addressable Problems in Telecommunications Solutions

• Network Monitoring & Outage Management - Build platforms that detect network downtime, notify subscribers via SMS/USSD, and push status updates to field technicians via Voice or SMS alerts.

• Subscriber Onboarding & KYC - Develop mobile-first SIM registration, e-KYC verification, and digital identity tools that meet regulatory requirements while working over USSD/SMS for low-end devices.

• Airtime & Data Bundle Management - Create self-service platforms for airtime top-up, data bundle purchase, and balance/usage tracking via USSD menus and SMS notifications, with M-Pesa integration for payments.

• Customer Care & Support Automation - Build AI-powered Voice/Chat support systems, USSD-based self-service menus, and SMS-based complaint/ticketing systems that reduce call-center load.

• Fraud & SIM-Swap Detection - Develop real-time fraud monitoring tools that flag suspicious SIM swaps, unusual airtime transfers, or account takeovers, with instant SMS/Voice alerts to subscribers.

• Rural & Underserved Connectivity Enablement - Create mobile-first tools that extend telecom services (airtime agents, bundle resellers, network diagnostics) to rural agents via USSD/SMS with minimal data requirements.

• Value-Added Services (VAS) & Content Delivery - Build subscription-based content platforms (news, music, education, health tips) delivered via SMS/USSD/Premium SMS, with billing handled through carrier billing or M-Pesa.

• IoT & Machine-to-Machine Connectivity - Develop SIM-based IoT monitoring solutions for asset tracking, remote sensor data collection, and device management using Mobile Data and SMS triggers.

• Roaming & Cross-Border Communication - Build tools that simplify roaming activation, cross-border SMS/Voice pricing transparency, and multi-network number verification for travelers and diaspora users.

• Telecom Revenue Assurance & Billing - Create billing reconciliation tools, usage-based invoicing systems, and prepaid/postpaid hybrid billing engines with M-Pesa Daraja settlement.

• Agent & Distributor Network Management - Build USSD/SMS-based tools for airtime distributor float management, commission tracking, and agent performance dashboards.

• Digital Inclusion & Accessibility - Develop solutions that make telecom services accessible to visually impaired, elderly, or low-literacy users through Voice IVR, USSD simplification, and local-language SMS.

Objectives

• Bridge the Connectivity Gap: Create solutions that improve network reliability, service access, and affordability for African subscribers.

• Foster Local Innovation: Empower African builders to solve the continent's unique telecom infrastructure and customer experience challenges.

• Promote Inclusive Telecommunications: Build tools that extend digital connectivity to rural, underserved, and low-literacy populations.

• Encourage Responsible Development: Prioritize data privacy, subscriber consent, fraud prevention, and ethical AI in telecom platforms.

• Enable Impact at Scale: Ensure solutions can grow to serve millions of subscribers, agents, and network operators across Africa.

Target Attendees

• Developers & Engineers

• Telecom & Network Engineers

• AI/ML & Data Scientists

• Engineering Students & Learners

• Social Entrepreneurs & NGOs

• UX/UI Designers

• Regulatory & Compliance Experts

Why Participate

• Access to Tools & APIs

• Mentorship & Workshops

• Collaborative Innovation

• Cash Prizes & Recognition

• Real-World Impact

• Talent & Gig Opportunities

Prizes

The winning solution will receive cash prizes as follows:

• Winner - $100 (Join Marketplace Program)

• 1st Runners Up - $50

• 2nd Runners Up - $25

Africa's Talking powers communications solutions across Africa with simplified access to telco infrastructure. Developers use our powerful SMS, USSD, Voice, Chat, Airtime and Mobile Data to bring their ideas to life, as they build and sustain scalable businesses.

Note: Carry a laptop

Take It Further: Make It Marketplace-Ready

Learn more about the Marketplace and connect with other builders in the community forum: https://community.africastalking.com/forum/marketplace-18239/

Winning the hackathon is just the start. Turn your build into a packaged, reusable product that any business on the Africa’s Talking Marketplace can subscribe to and deploy as their own running instance.

What Makes a Solution Marketplace-Ready

A marketplace-ready solution isn’t just a working app. It’s a packaged, reusable, deployable product. Think of it less as “my project” and more as “a plugin other businesses can pay to deploy.” To qualify, your submission should meet the following:

• Containerized and pushed to the registry. Built into a Docker image and pushed to the AT-Container registry (manual push or a CI/CD pipeline via GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).

• Built on at least one AT product. Integrate with one or more of USSD, Voice, Airtime, Insights, Bulk SMS, Premium SMS, or Mobile Data.

• Reusable by many. Unlike a private callback, a marketplace plugin is publicly listed and deployable by any customer, and each gets their own isolated instance with its own URL (e.g. https://your-app.africastalking.marketplace.dev).

• Clearly presented. It needs a name, slug, short and long descriptions, and a logo (required; a missing logo blocks submission).

• Configurable. Expose any environment variables customers should set at deploy time, and declare your database needs (default: none).

• Monetizable. At least one pricing plan is required, each specifying currency, amount, billing frequency, and a description.

• Categorized and compliant. Tag it with at least one AT product and industry (Gaming, Education, Clean Energy, Fintech, Government, or Other), and accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

In short: if a stranger could find your plugin, pick a pricing plan, click Deploy, and get a live working instance, then it’s marketplace-ready.

How to Submit Your Marketplace Solution

1.   Sign in to the Marketplace at marketplace.africastalking.dev (create an account first if needed).

2.   Build and push your image. Containerize your app and push it to the AT-Container registry using the credentials and instructions in the submission form.

3.   From the homepage, click “Create Your Own Plugin.”

4.   Complete the submission form, section by section: container registry credentials; basic plugin info (name, slug, short + long description, logo); technical details (image URL, optional Git repo, database); environment variables (optional); categorization (AT product + industry, at least one); pricing plans (at least one with currency, amount, frequency, description); and accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

5.   Submit. A confetti animation confirms success; an error toast means something needs fixing (most often a missing logo or required field).

6.   Track approval under “Manage Plugins” in the side menu, where you can view review status, see admin feedback, edit, archive, or publish your plugin.

Agenda (Standard Hackathon)

1.   Warm-Up: Introductions, form teams where needed, feedback & feature requests.

2.   Building / Hacking: Code in GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket and deploy via Docker / automated CI. Upon commit, the repository is built and deployed to an accessible web server or the AT Marketplace.

3.   Demonstration & Wrap-Up: Teams present their solutions, followed by feedback and next steps.

4.   Publish on the Marketplace: publish your solution on the Africa’s Talking Marketplace to be considered a winner.

Opportunities

• Network and innovate on real African problems with production-grade APIs.

• Access our Talent Bench: you can land a job or a gig on the spot.

Submit Your Idea

All attendees planning to present should complete the Hackathon Idea Submission Form. It is used to reach out to participants later.

Join the Community

• Slack: join the Africa’s Talking Slack community

• X (Twitter): @AfricasTalking

• Facebook: Africa’s Talking on Facebook

• Instagram: @africastalking

• LinkedIn: Africa’s Talking Ltd

• YouTube: Africa’s Talking channel

• TikTok: @africas_talking

• GitHub: github.com/AfricasTalkingLtd

• Partnerships: email developerexperience@africastalking.com

Africa’s Talking community is language- and framework-agnostic. All developers are welcome to build, learn, and exchange knowledge.

Opportunities

• Network

• Innovate

• Access to our Talent bench (You can get a job or a gig on the spot)

New to Africa's Talking? Get started here.

Publish on Africa's Talking Marketplace

Marketplace: Get Call Back as a Service and Publish your plugin/app for our customer.

Developer Documentation (We welcome feedback)

New to Africa's Talking? Get started here.

Submit your Idea

• Hackathon idea submission form

Gigs

We would love to reach out to you so that you can build for our customers, please fill out this form with details to ensure we have your details:

GIG/HACK DEVELOPER PORTFOLIO FORM

Would you like to partner with us? Kindly contact the Developer Experience Team.