iTALANTA HACKATHON

Where can you feel excited, nervous, rushed, motivated, tired, passionate,
and enlightened, all within 24 hours? Well, you got to be a part of the
iTalanta hackathon to experience these.

From September 22 nd to 23 rd , LakeHub, in collaboration with iTalanta,
Elewa, and Podii, will host the first edition of the iTalanta Hackathon: a
24-hour tech event where teams get together to intensively collaborate
on software and product projects purposed to generate cost-effective,
highly scalable solutions that can be utilised and distributed through
conversational tools such as WhatsApp or Telegram. The goal is to get
together, have fun, innovate, and build great things as a team.

In a developing country where youths may not have the resources to
facilitate and encourage innovation, the iTalanta Hackathon will not only
provide a platform for participants to showcase their skills, but also
provide opportunities for talent development through apprenticeship.

“Hackathons such as iTalanta enable students to fulfil their potential as
digital enthusiasts before accelerating their growth to become software
engineers.” Marlene Cherop Chirchir, Digital Program Associate at
LakeHub.

Hackathon Flow:
Working in groups of 3, participants will be expected to brainstorm and
come up with solutions centred around the following:
 Educating the community by building stronger and more sustainable knowledge dissemination systems.
 Improving people’s lives through political efficiency, well- organised waste management, socio-economic empowerment, and social inclusion.
 Improving legal processes through effective engagement, civic education, and court proceedings management.

Leveraging each other’s strengths and working on solutions collaboratively, the iTalanta Hackathon aims to bring out innovation, creativity, teamwork, and rapid development. A total of 20 teams are expected. All must be familiar with at least one programming language and be ready to perform the task as a team, while under pressure.

“This Hackathon is a rare opportunity for participants from different
fields, with software skills, coding talent, or programming knowledge,
to gather at the same place. Hence, they can anticipate to interact and
brainstorm ideas to come up with new solutions to old problems.” Paul
Chesa, LakeHub Academy alumnus, currently working at iTalanta as a
front-end developer.

Upon completing the task or project within the stipulated time frame,
participating teams shall present their work to an expert panel of judges.
Winners shall take home the cash prizes reserved for first, second, and third place. Exceptional talent will get an opportunity to join the iTalanta apprenticeship program designed to up-skill and accelerate growth to an expert level.
Through this collaborative learning, we are optimistic we can contribute
to inclusive innovation and create a better world, together.

‍