Vodafone’s Hackathon was a beacon to software developers in Egypt! It was an open invitation to all youth to innovate, starting from those with basic know-how of coding and programming to seasoned coders. By offering a chance for youth to test and enhance their coding skills, the Hackathon targeted youth, software developers, graduates, and undergraduates, and young professionals in the field.

The Hackathon event took place from the 13th to 15th of December. The invitation extended to all software developers in Egypt, regardless of their experience or age, providing them with a platform to create innovative projects. The applicants participated in the competition in teams ranging from 2–5 individuals. Out of 300+ teams, 44 teams were qualified to participate in the 3-day Hackathon. Out of which, 10 teams were qualified as finalists competing for the top 3 winning teams.

What made this competition truly unique is the fact that during the closing ceremony, the top 10 finalists received a chance to present their ideas to a unique panel of judges, and role models in the technological field. The judges had a chance to teach and direct the participants, as the next generation of tech leaders in the country.

The collective expertise of the judging panel included: Alexandre Froment-Curtil, Vodafone Egypt CEO; Mohamed Adbdallah, Enterprise Business Unit Director; Emad AlAzhary, Strategy Director; Karim Eid, C. Marketing Digital Director; and Amani Rabei, Vodafone Shared Services Director. Those in addition to Maha Rashad, CEO ITIDA, and Head of Technology Shared Services Egypt, Eng. Mohamed Sami.

 

As for the real deal, a competition is nothing without a valuable prize, and the prizes were worth competing for.

First off, the cash prizes:

  • For 1st place:120,000 EGP
  • For 2nd place:60,000 EGP
  • For 3rd place:30,000 EGP

In addition to the monetary prizes, the winners got Nanodegree scholarships from Udacity.

Now for the best part; who won those amazing prizes?

For 1st place: Helpee: Sara Mahmoud, Abdelrahman El-Shorbagy, Anwar Aly, and Aya El-Kader founded “Helpee” a platform that connects people with disabilities and volunteers who want to help them with simple daily tasks. Volunteering can be either paid, if it’s an urgent request for help, or free of charge. The platform is like an Uber service for volunteers to help people with disabilities in the community.

For 2nd place: Robabekya: A waste management mobile application that trades cash for trash. The Robabekya application was founded by a team of 5 innovative young students; Salma Medhat, Ahmed Hisham, Ahmed Zaki, Amr Ahmed and Mohamed Hussein.

For 3rd place: While in the third place came “ParaZtec” whose team members included Mazen Kazem Mahmoud, Mahmoud Adel Mohamed, Ahmed Haris Ibrahim and Mohamed Ayman. The high schoolers team innovated a solution that helps alleviate obstacles for people with communication hardships including paralyzed and MS patients.

If you missed the event, check out the coverage video and make sure to prepare yourself for the next round because we know it’ll be even bigger!