The 10th annual GirlCode Hackathon saw young coders and tech enthusiasts putting their skills to the test from 31 August to 1 September at the MTN Group Headquarters.
To mark their 10th anniversary, GirlCode hosted its inaugural pan-African hackathon, expanding beyond South Africa to include participants from over 10 cities across the African continent, making it a truly historic and diverse event.
The theme was 'Harnessing the Power of Technology to Address Pressing Global Challenges", aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Among the best submissions that impressed the judges was a solution presented by the PrincessCare team, which aims to improve access to menstrual health products. It allows individuals to buy one, give one sanitary product to women and girls in need.
The team called Binary Brains 1 submitted an idea for a web app that encourages farmers to sell their produce directly to individuals and to donate rejected produce from supermarkets to communities lacking access to sufficient nutritious food.
Hackers Squad also made it to the top three with their entry aligned with SDG 4 – Quality Education. Their concept focuses on providing free primary and secondary education, boosting vocational and technical skills for better employment prospects, and offering hands-on experience to unemployed graduates to enhance their employability.
The overall winners will receive a trip to America.
10-year milestone
Zandile Mkwanazi, founder and CEO of GirlCode, reflects on the non-profit’s 10-year milestone: "It's amazing to see how far we've come since 2014, offering young women from all over Africa the opportunity to learn, grow, and showcase their coding talent."
She adds that the tech sector needs more women, and being able to invite more young female tech enthusiasts to join GirlCode initiatives will definitely help achieve this.
"As it stands, the World Bank estimates that only 30% of women in sub-Saharan Africa have access to training in STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] subjects and participate in the tech sector."
Mkwanazi believes that promoting inclusivity and empowering women to enter Africa’s digital economy has the potential to significantly reduce inequality, grow economies, and encourage diversity within workplaces and across the business landscape.
Bongekile Tlhakanye, head of department for service management at Vuma, a supporter of GirlCode since its inception, says that while more women are entering tech, the numbers are still not enough.
“Initiatives like GirlCode are fantastic and so important when it comes to bridging the gender gap in tech and encouraging more women into fields like telecommunications,” she says.
Brighter future
Tlhakanye says that Vuma's Fibre to Schools initiative, which provides free 1Gbps fibre broadband connectivity to schools along their deployment routes, resonates with GirlCode's mission.
“When you empower young girls, you empower communities," she sayd. "We want to see more women in tech for this exact reason – because women are by their very nature, problem solvers and critical thinkers. By working together to improve access to opportunities, we can create brighter futures for our young girls and bring about significant change."
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