The #Hack.Jozi Challenge, which is organised by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and Wits University through the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), is back again for its second year. This year, the total prize remains at R5 million. By Staff Writer
The overall winner will receive R1 million for a great digital idea that can transform their community. The two runners up will get R350 000 and top 100 idea makers wil get a chance to go into a a boot camp.
The #Hack.Jozi Challenge is a boot camp for startup entrepreneurs and aims to contribute towards fostering skills, innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital technology space.
“We aim to accelerate visionary entrepreneurs in the ICT sector. This is important because ICT is central to improved productivity, economic growth and job creation. We are a young City with a young population and we have excellent business and research capacity which can create the perfect environment for us to develop advanced ICT products and services,” says Ravi Naidoo, Executive Director for Economic Development of CoJ.
“If you have an idea about how you can use technology to help your community and grow the economy, we want to hear from you,” says Naidoo.
Applicants can be individuals or teams, one of whom must live in the Johannesburg area. Government employees are not eligible.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, 25 March 2016, which will be followed by a strict pre-screening to be conducted by a technical team. A committee will select the winners.
The top 100 contestants will be offered after-hours entrepreneurship and business training that will help them to refine the ideas. These contestants will be hosted and mentored in Jozi’s digital innovation hub in the heart of Braamfontein, where they will have access to various resources, mentors, advisors as well as partners to make their vision of helping their community a reality.
The top 20 will be offered additional business mentorship and all who make the top 10 will win a one year membership of the ICT Hub in Braamfontein. The hub is an initiative hosted by Wits University under the leadership of Professor Barry Dwolatzky.
The ideas that won in 2015
- R1 million: Desmond Mongwe MoWallet.
- R 350 000: Niel Pieters Lazy Lizzard
- R 350 000: Percy Lawrence Move this stuff
