Ozow, a South African digital payment tech startup has partnered with AfricaArena to host a digital hackathon and the participating teams stand the chance of winning R100 000 in cash. The hackathon is aimed at encouraging tech startups to help deliver a new wave of fintech innovation leveraging the new Ozow API.
Thomas Pays, Founder and CEO of Ozow comments on the importance of new products in the fintech sector and how the hackathon will play a role in the promotion of innovation.
“The growth of the fintech industry has been accelerating throughout the pandemic, and digitization of payments is at the forefront of the economic transformation of many businesses. Since its inception, Ozow has been an incredibly dynamic and innovative South Africa based company. Our world-class tech team is putting the best developer minds in the country to the challenge with the AfricArena Ozow challenge. We are looking forward to receiving very disruptive ideas using our new Ozow API and to work with the finalist teams to continue to deliver amazing innovation to the market.”
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Established in 2017, South African-based AfricArena has established itself as one of the continents leading ecosystem accelerators and is endorsed by various major international sponsors.
Christophe Viarnaud, AfricArena founder comments on partnering with Ozow in establishing the hackathon.
“We are very proud of partnering with the Ozow team, a challenge winner at AfricArena 2017, to work on this amazing Hackathon and engage with the brilliant tech community in South Africa for applications using Ozow technology. Ozow has been an incredible success story since its creation and has become a reference in fintech. We hope this will unlock further innovation and enable many developers across the nation to show their metal.”
The hackathon
Startups are encouraged to apply to the hackathon via the online platform . Entries closed on 2 November at 5pm.
Entrants will be required to develop a concept that demonstrates new and novel ideas that are directly designed to disrupt the current payments space. In addition, the product must support the mission of Ozow that focuses on enabling anyone in any location to participate in the digital economy.
Entrants products must cater to the following:
-A dynamic banking details (dynamic payment target)
-Variable amounts
– Payment requests (URL/SMS/Email)
– Configure payment set up, to include the reference number, static or variable amounts
Participating tech developers will work alongside the talented team from Ozom to create a new and innovative fintech product.
During the event, participants will be required to present their idea and code using the Ozow API in order to demonstrate how their product or tool works.
Three finalists will be selected to compete in the AfricArena Summit, which will take place from 24 – 25 November 2020. At the summit, they will be required to pitch their product concept in front of an international group of investors, entrepreneurs, and corporate executives.
The winning team will walk away with a cash prize of R100,000, and the finalists will earn R25 000.
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