In July 2018, twelve teams from across East Africa gathered at the Impact Hub in Kigali, Rwanda, to compete in the fourth ever GSMA Mobile Money Hackathon in partnership with service providers MTN Rwanda and Airtel-Tigo and platform provider Mahindra Comviva. Previously held in Karachi, Pakistan and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Kigali was a natural choice for the latest hackathon; the mobile money industry has undergone tremendous growth in Rwanda in recent years, and the capital city is a focal point for innovation and entrepreneurship in East Africa.
Developers from banks, aggregators, payments switches and start-ups were tasked with developing an innovative merchant payment solution using Airtel-Tigo and MTN’s service integrated with the GSMA Mobile Money API in only 24 hours.
The Solutions and Judging
Many teams showed dedication and determination by coding throughout the night to fine tune their solutions and optimise their chances. Each team then presented their solution to a panel of judges comprising Jidia Gasana, Senior Business Development Manager of MTN Rwanda, Sharif Banamwana, Innovation Specialist at Airtel-Tigo and the GSMA’s Mobile Money Services Director, Gunnar Camner. The judges focused on five key criteria: innovation and originality, user experience and design, quality of the functionality, effectiveness of the API implementation and the potential impact of the solution to the wider mobile money ecosystem.
A whole host of pioneering solutions were presented to the panel, from electronic ticketing systems to travel cost loans and bill-splitting. Team Ensibuuko proposed a self-checkout service allowing shoppers to scan groceries on their mobile before checking out using mobile money, eliminating the need to queue at the cashier. Meanwhile, Team Khenz created a travel loans app allowing commuters to purchase travel season tickets in advance. After careful discussion and much deliberation, the judges established the winning teams.
The Prize Winners
All prize-winning teams walked away with an array of hi-tech prizes from wireless headphones to smartphones, all sponsored by the partner organisations. Team Rwanda Build received the Judges’ Recognition Award for their ambitious solution integrating QR codes and NFC into their merchant payments solution. Team TorQue were awarded third place for addressing the challenge of rural wholesale distribution in Rwanda with a mobile money enabled-management system. Using vertical integration to expand on their existing product portfolio, the new solution informs the manufacturer directly of any sales, enabling efficient management of production demands.
Yego Innovation finished in second place, impressing the judges with their motorcycle taxi payment solution leveraging mobile money as the primary payment method – a great solution for a city with motorcycle taxis as the core mode of transport. Finally, the judges announced the much-anticipated first place prize, with Akello Banker walking away with two all-expenses paid tickets to Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, for his unique and viable business opportunity. Participating solo and traveling from Uganda, he really impressed the judges with his seamless credit-tracking service aiming to increase financial inclusion in rural and peri-urban communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
Brian Musisi of Akello Baker receiving his award
The teams’ creativity, flexibility and entrepreneurship was a testament to the talent within East Africa’s developer community. Thank you to our partners MTN Rwanda, Airtel-Tigo and Mahindra Comviva and all the participants for making it yet another successful hackathon, and stay tuned for the next hackathon instalment!
Comments from our partners and Brian, the Mobile Money Hackathon winner
