Target Attendees

• Developers and Software Engineers: Technical minds ready to build functional, real-world conservation tools and offline reporting systems using Africa’s Talking APIs.

• Conservationists and Environmentalists: Field experts, researchers, and wildlife advocates who understand the actual challenges facing rangers and local communities and can guide the team's solution.

• Designers and UX Experts: Creative thinkers who can design simple, highly accessible user interfaces that are easy for rangers in the field or villagers to navigate under pressure.
• Data Scientists and AI/ML Enthusiasts: Specialists interested in using data analytics, predictive modeling, or camera-trap/sensor data to track wildlife patterns and detect potential poaching threats.
• Tech Enthusiasts and Innovators: Anyone passionate about using tech for social good, protecting biodiversity, and empowering local communities through digital transformation.

Why Participate?

• Access to Africa’s Talking APIs: Utilize powerful APIs for SMS, Voice, Payments, and more to build innovative fintech solutions.
• Apprenticeship: Get guidance from fintech experts, Africa’s Talking engineers, and industry mentors.
• Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded innovators, industry professionals, and potential investors.
• Exciting Prizes: Compete for cash rewards
• Impact and Recognition: Build a solution that can make a real difference in people’s lives and get recognized in the fintech community.

New to Africa's Talking? Get started here.

Developer Documentation (We welcome feedback)

THEME: Wildlife & Conservation Solutions

The winning solution will receive cash prizes as follows:

• Winner - ₦80,000
• 1st Runners Up - ₦60,000
• 2nd Runners Up - ₦40,000

Take It Further: Make It Marketplace-Ready

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.

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

Agenda:

1. Warm-Up

• Introductions
• Form teams where need be.
• Feedback
• Feature requests

2. Building/hacking: Code in GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket and deploy in Docker/Automated CI/Travis CI/Bamboo

Note: This section needs additional setup.

Upon commit, the repository is built and deployed to an accessible web server or an S3 bucket.

• Technology used.

3. Demonstration and Wrap-up

Opportunities:

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

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

Submit your Idea:

Hackathon idea submission form (This form should be filled by all hackathon attendees planning to present it will be used to reach out to them later)

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 (Anyone open to take Gigs should fill this form and it can be shared with developer attendees of AT events)

Join community channels:

Slack:

• Join Africa's Talking slack community here

Please follow us on

• Twitter handles @AfricasTalking @atdevskd
• Instagram & Linkedln @ATCommunityKaduna
• Join Africa's Talking Kaduna Developers Community WhatsApp group here

You can get our videos, recaps, and event interviews on our youtube channels, subscribe to get updates:

• Africa's Talking Youtube Channel

Africa's Talking community allows developers to learn skills for the modern-day African Developer. We are language and framework agnostic. All developers are welcome. This is where Africa's Talking developers community meets to build, learn and exchange knowledge.

We are helping software developers and businesses to bring their ideas to life through easy-to-use APIs quickly.

Would you like to partner with us? Kindly contact the Developer Experience Team (developerexperience@africastalking.com).