A team developing a digitised address mapping solution for South African townships has won the top prize at the first-ever hackathon hosted by the Innovate Africa Fund. Competing against 10 teams from across the continent, the five-member group emerged victorious at the event held alongside World Product Day. Their solution addresses the long-standing issue of inaccessible and unreliable addressing systems in informal settlements.
Innovate Africa Fund Champions Problem-Led Innovation
The hackathon was part of Innovate Africa Fund’s mission to instill a product-focused mindset among African builders. Launched in 2024 by Christian Idiodi and Kristin Wilson, the angel syndicate fund aims to support early-stage startups from ideation through to product-market fit. Backed with $2.5 million, the fund plans to invest $50,000 in at least 20 startups in its first year, with a strong emphasis on helping teams deeply understand the problems they seek to solve.
A Digital Address for Every South African
The winning team, composed of Lucy Kgware, Thina Mathebula, Phumla Makhoba, Sicelo Shange, and Lerato Masango, created Address Me, a mobile app that generates verifiable digital addresses for residents in underserved areas. In many South African townships, access to services such as healthcare and deliveries hinges on having a formal address—a barrier that Google Maps cannot yet overcome. The app replaces the traditional, cumbersome verification process with a seamless digital alternative, allowing users to obtain certified addresses without leaving their homes.
How Address Me Works
With Address Me, users input their personal and location data, and request verification from a community leader through the app. Once verified, the application moves to virtual police certification, a step that traditionally required a lengthy in-person process. The final result is a digital, geolocated address pin that can be used by emergency services, delivery companies, and financial institutions, offering practical benefits to people often excluded from basic services.
Tackling Counterfeit Goods with Digital Traceability
Another standout at the hackathon was Team Nine from Nigeria, which focused on reducing counterfeit products in the health and beauty sectors. Their system improves on existing barcode verification methods by introducing a “confidence score” that assesses a product’s journey through the supply chain. Though still in development, the team has drawn interest from pharmaceutical firms and aims to refine its business model alongside technical improvements.
A Human-Centered Approach to Post-Harvest Loss
Team Two addressed Nigeria’s ongoing issue of post-harvest losses among smallholder farmers. By consulting directly with agricultural stakeholders in Oyo State, they developed a voice-enabled mobile app that supports local languages and functions offline. The product also incorporates machine learning to predict fair market prices and includes an escrow system to ensure secure transactions between buyers and farmers.
Empowering Builders with More Than Capital
Each team received support beyond funding, including mentorship and ecosystem integration from Innovate Africa Fund. Kristin Wilson emphasized that many African startups fail not from a lack of capital, but from a lack of clarity on the problem they are solving. By engaging builders early through initiatives like this hackathon, the fund aims to nurture solutions that are not only innovative but also deeply aligned with the needs of their users.
The success of the inaugural Innovate Africa hackathon highlights a growing shift toward problem-driven innovation on the continent. Whether solving for addressing systems, counterfeit detection, or food security, each team brought a practical, user-informed perspective to deeply rooted challenges. With the right support, these early-stage ideas could develop into scalable solutions that reshape Africa’s innovation landscape for the better.
Source : Techpoint.africa