Nigeria beats Kenya in tech hackathon for Mara conservation

Mara Foundation has announced winners of the 2022 “Hack the Mara” hackathon.

Three Kenyan and five Nigerian teams participated in the week-long physical hackathon with the top three slots going to Nigeria.

The awards recognised top three teams with the most viable business proposals that will advance long-term beneficial, social and environmental change within the Maasai Mara, across Africa, and beyond.

The winning teams were Masterminds, Blocverse and AfroLabs.

Mara Foundation awarded the winners with $100,000 (Sh12,085,000) in funding, entry into start-up accelerator programs, mentorship and other resources to build on their solutions.

Winners were chosen after proposal submissions and a week-long physical hackathon that was held in the Maasai Mara, where they built prototypes for their solutions.

Team Masterminds won first place by developing a funding solution using blockchain with NFTs to provide a means of livelihood for Maasai rangers, conservancies, and land owners.

This was with a focus on building impactful USSD blockchain solutions in Web3.

"Our solution offers people an opportunity for everyone to experience the Mara even if they have never been there,” Babatide Abisagbo said.

He added that the preservation of wildlife is critical to the sustenance of the Maasai ecosystem.

First runners-up team Blocverse developed a solution that gives back to nature and helps conservancies to become more sustainable so they can also autorun even without donations.

The team’s mission was to drive blockchain adoption in Africa through building everyday products with Web3 technologies.

"This will champion inclusion in conservation because we truly believe that conservation is everyone’s duty and we should all contribute to it," Joshua Avoaja said.

Second runners-up Afrolabs created a solution to help the Maasai Mara community receive money from around the globe directly into their accounts to enable land owners can get paid easily.

“During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the land owners lacked funds and started thinking of selling their land or converting them to farmlands, ultimately affecting the ecosystem of wildlife,” Anthony Nwobodo said.

"We look forward to following these winning teams on their journeys to amplify their influence for greater impact across Africa and beyond," Mara co-founder and CEO Chi Nnadi said.

The top eight finalist teams from Kenya and Nigeria that participated in the physical hackathon included team Afrolabs (Nigeria), team BlockDash (Nigeria), and team FedhaPay (Kenya).

Others were team BlockHackers (Nigeria), team Blockverse (Nigeria), team Relic (Kenya), team Mastermind (Nigeria), and team Sahara (Kenya).

"We believe that these Africans can act as the spark for igniting blockchain solutions that will advance the future of finance in Africa on Web3," Mara co-founder and Chief Impact Officer Kate Kallot said.

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