Zoho, has announced the winners of the Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge, an initiative conducted in collaboration with The High Commission of India, Nairobi, Kenya and Hindsight Ventures, an Africa-focused startup accelerator.
Zoho and it partners aim to foster entrepreneurship and innovation among the youth of Kenya, is a step towards establishing a bilateral startup and innovation corridor between India and Kenya.
According to Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head – Kenya, Zoho Corp, “The Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge aligns with Zoho’s commitment to enabling local tech ecosystems, nurturing entrepreneurship, and creating a positive impact in the community. The initiative is a great way to discover entrepreneurs and young talents who can build a sustainable future with their ideas, and we are excited to work with Hindsight Ventures and The High Commission of India, Kenya for this.”
The challenge participants build and submitted working prototypes of their solution ideas with the help of Zoho Creator, Zoho’s low-code development platform. The categories included Environmental, Social, and Governance), Sustainability, and Net-Zero problems.
The overall winner of the Innovation challenge will be rewarded an all-inclusive, fully funded mentorship trip to India for a week-long tour of the innovation ecosystem and engage in networking activities. Furthermore, the top two winners from each track will be bestowed with monetary rewards: KES 75,000 for the first prize and KES 50,000 for the second prize.
“This hackathon and innovation challenge provides a much-needed platform for the Kenyan entrepreneurs to present their ideas and connect with tech leaders, industry experts, and investors. The initiative has also allowed us to collaborate with like-minded organisations like Zoho in supporting the local youth build for the future. With the help of Zoho Creator, we have been able to see various ideas live in action as functional applications,” said Her Excellency Ms. Namgya C. Khampa High Commissioner & PR to UNEP & UN-Habitat.
The challenge received 85 entries for the hackathon track and 54 entries for the innovation track. After a meticulous selection process, 32 hackathon entries and 10 innovation entries were shortlisted. The submissions were evaluated by a distinguished panel of six jury members, including industry leaders from Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Bank of India, BDO East Africa, Zoho Africa, Duhqa, and Hindsight Ventures.
The jury selected 10 ideas (5 from each track) that were nurtured during a week-long boot-camp where participants received guidance and support to refine their solutions that were built on Zoho Creator. Today, the participants presented the functional prototypes to industry experts, investors, and collaborators.
Zoho Creator is a cloud-based low-code platform that allows users to easily create custom web and mobile applications with minimal coding expertise. It offers a drag-and-drop interface and pre-built templates to simplify app development.
The winners of the hackathon are as follows:
In the Hackathon track:
1. Wesley Kijedi – Zero Carbon
2. Mary Njoki – Ustawi
In the Startup Track:
1. Kennedy Kariuki – Thorium Organic Foods (overall winner)
2. Rosaly Akinyi – ROAK Swahili Wear