Aspiring young female coders, developers, and tech enthusiasts from across South Africa and various African countries put their skills to the test at the 10th annual GirlCode Hackathon, which took place from 31 August to 1 September 2024, at the MTN Group Headquarters.

In line with this year’s theme of: Harnessing the Power of Technology to Address Pressing Global Challenges as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), participants worked together in teams to find innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Standout submissions that impressed the judges this year included a solution presented by  PrincessCare, which aims to improve access to menstrual health products. Their solution allows women (and anyone else) to purchase sanitary product hampers for women and girls in need while also buying their own sanitary products.

Another was Binary Brains 1 who submitted a remarkable 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.

Lastly, the third impressive group, Hackers Squad, submitted an entry aligned with SDG 4 - Quality Education. SDG 4 is committed to revolutionising global education by ensuring that quality learning opportunities are available to all, irrespective of their background. It aims to provide free primary and secondary education, boost vocational and technical skills for better employment prospects and offer hands-on experience to unemployed graduates to enhance their employability.

Additionally, it promotes sustainable development through education. By empowering individuals and communities, SDG 4 strives to bridge inequalities and drive sustainable progress through a holistic and inclusive educational framework. The overall winner will win an international trip to America. 

Zandile Mkwanazi, Founder and CEO of GirlCode, reflects on the non-profit’s 10-year milestone, celebrating the success of making the hackathon accessible to girls across 10 countries in Africa. “It’s crazy to think that something that was born from such humble beginnings back in 2014 has come this far, and that talented young women from all over Africa now have their chance to learn, grow and show their talent in coding through the hackathon,” says Mkwanazi. “We need more young women in tech, and being able to extend the invite to take part in the hackathon to more young female tech enthusiasts will definitely help achieve this.”

Promoting inclusivity and empowering women to enter Africa’s digital economy in Africa has the potential to significantly reduce inequality, grow economies, and encourage diversity within workplaces and across the business landscape. As it stands, 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.

Bongekile Tlhakanye, Head of Department for Service Management at Vuma (a longstanding supporter of GirlCode since its inception), says that while she does see more women entering tech spaces, the numbers are simply 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,” says Tlhakanye.

“GirlCode reaching 10 years of doing the incredible work they do is a huge milestone. Over the past decade, they have consistently empowered young South African women with coding skills and opportunities in the tech sector. The fact that this year’s event has been opened up to more young women across the continent underscores their commitment to expanding access and inclusivity, enabling even more young women to break barriers and thrive in this industry.”

With Vuma’s Fibre to Schools initiative that ensures that every school located along its deployment routes receives a free 1Gbps fibre broadband connectivity line, Tlhakanye says that the fibre provider’s community-focused ethos of ‘Because we can, we must’ aligns with and GirlCode’s purpose.

As such, Vuma continues its support of the GirlCode Hackathon this year as a Gold Sponsor.  

“When you empower young girls, you empower communities. 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,” says Tlhakanye.