#BuildwithAT #WeloveNerds #WomenInTech

Overview:

Africa’s Talking invites you to an inspiring Women in Technology hackathon themed Public Transportation Solutions! This event is all about leveraging technology to improve mobility, accessibility, safety, and efficiency in public transport systems across Africa. Using Africa’s Talking APIs (SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime and Data, Insights, Chat and more), participants will build innovative solutions to enhance commuter experiences, support transport operators, improve route management, and enable smarter, more inclusive transportation.

It’s your chance to turn code into real-world impact while gaining hands-on experience and collaborating with brilliant minds.

Beyond coding, this hackathon is a platform to bridge technology with urban mobility, sparking ideas that can directly support commuters, transport providers, city planners, and policymakers. Whether it’s sending real-time commuter updates via SMS, building USSD-based fare and route information systems, enabling voice support for accessibility, or creating data-driven transport insights, your work here will help shape the future of public transportation in Africa.

Why Attend?

• Improve Urban Mobility with Tech:
  Use your technical skills to solve real public transportation challenges and improve everyday commuting.

• Hands-On Learning:
  Get practical experience with Africa’s Talking APIs while solving real-world transportation problems.

• Collaborate & Network:
  Work with like-minded innovators, developers, and urban mobility enthusiasts passionate about improving public transport.

• Showcase Your Innovation:
  Pitch your solutions to expert judges and ecosystem stakeholders who can help scale your idea.

• Drive Social Impact:
  Contribute to solutions that improve accessibility, safety, affordability, and efficiency for millions of commuters across Africa.

Key Focus Areas:

• Commuter Information & Real-Time Updates: Build SMS, USSD, or chat-based platforms that provide commuters with route information, schedules, delays, and service updates.

• Public Transport Safety & Incident Reporting: Develop alert and reporting systems powered by Africa’s Talking APIs to help passengers report incidents, emergencies, or unsafe conditions.

• Fare Transparency & Ticketing Support: Create solutions that help users understand fares, validate payments, or receive fare confirmations through SMS or USSD.

• Fleet Tracking & Route Optimization: Build tools that help transport operators monitor vehicles, optimize routes, reduce congestion, and improve service reliability.

• Accessibility & Inclusive Transport: Design voice-enabled or USSD-based solutions for users with disabilities, elderly commuters, or people without smartphones.

• Community Feedback & Transport Insights: Create platforms that allow commuters to give feedback, report service issues, and contribute data to improve transport planning.

Target Attendees:

The hackathon is open to anyone passionate about hardware, software, IoT, and API integration. If you are:

• Software Developers and Engineers

• Data Scientists and IoT Enthusiasts

• Innovators in Transport Tech

• Entrepreneurs in the Transport Sector

• Government, NGOs and Transport Agencies

Then this hackathon is for you!

These diverse groups of attendees will bring a range of skills, perspectives, and ideas to the hackathon, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment for innovation.

All developers, from all fields, are welcome for the hackathon.

What to Expect as an Attendee:

• Cutting-Edge Tools and Technologies: Gain access to Africa's Talking APIs and SDKs, specifically designed to streamline implementation and ensure a seamless experience.

• Mentorship and Guidance: Collaborate closely with seasoned experts from Africa's Talking, who will serve as mentors throughout the hackathon. Benefit from their guidance, insights, and support as we build together.

• Expand Your Network: As a member of our community, you'll have the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, potential collaborators, and industry professionals. Build valuable relationships that can propel your career or projects to new heights.

• Exciting Rewards and Recognition: Get a chance to win cash prizes and earn recognition for your innovative solutions. Get to receive accolades for your contributions through our social media, potential collaborators and other platforms.

• Exposure to other women in tech opportunities.

Solution Criteria:

• Use of Africa's Talking APIs: How effectively the project utilizes one or more of the Africa's Talking APIs i.e. SMS, USSD, Airtime, Voice, Insights, Chat.

• Innovation: The originality and creativity of the project idea and implementation.

• User Experience: How well the project meets user needs and provides an intuitive and seamless experience.

• Functionality: How well the project performs the intended functionality and handles errors and edge cases.

• Presentation: The clarity and effectiveness of the project demonstration and pitch.

New to Africa's Talking? Get started here.

Publish on Africa's Talking Marketplace

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

Developer Documentation (We welcome feedback)

THEME: Public Transportation Solutions

The winning solution will receive cash prizes as follows:

• Winner - $100

• 1st Runners Up - $50

• 2nd Runners Up - $25

Social Media give-aways too!

More exclusive prizes and giveaways to attendees.

Contribute to open-source.

Agenda:

1. Introductions

2. Overview

• Technical hands-on session

3. Ideation

• Form teams where need be.

• Feedback

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

5. Demonstration and Wrap-up

• Teams or individuals will demonstrate what they have hacked for feedback or adoption.

Note: Carry a laptop

Opportunities:

• Network

• Innovate

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

Submit your Idea:

• Hackathon idea submission form

Join our community channels:

• Community Page:

  • Join Africa's Talking Women In Tech Community here

• Twitter (X):

  • Follow Our Page on X here

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

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 Women in Technology Team. 

Everyone is welcome!

Transport:

• Those who register by Monday 26th January 2026, will receive a transport code to redeem for transport to and from the hackathon venue.