SheHacks
Careers Middle East & Africa Partnerships Trending

Mukuru and WeThinkCode Collaborate to Host Woman-Only Hackathon

Money transfer provider Mukuru has partnered with coding academy WeThinkCode to host a woman-only hackathon to solve financial services challenges in Africa.

SheHacks – attended by WeThinkCode female students and Mukuru Education Fund female bursary recipients – aimed to provide an opportunity for young women to showcase their talent, further their studies and boost their careers in the IT sector.

Teams were tasked with developing a financial education or management tool in order to provide Mukuru’s customer base with better financial management and education tools. The company offers financial services to a customer base of more than 10 million across Africa, Asia and Europe.

According to Mukuru’s CSI manager Deidré Vrede, the event was designed to provide the opportunity for winning students to bolster their studies and win internships or job shadowing opportunities.

Vrede said: “As a fintech business, we encourage students, especially young women, to pursue careers in tech, as currently, only 19 per cent of the industry’s workforce are women. Judging by the innovation, skills and creativity on display, the future of women in IT is bright.

“We felt it was an exciting opportunity to add fuel to our passion for developing young female coders and give them a hand in creating and brainstorming something that will play a crucial role in financial education on the continent.”

WeThinkCode CEO Nyari Sumashonga suggests that African women have the potential to be at the leading edge of technology if they are given the opportunity.

“WeThinkCode is an academy that enables youth to become world-class developers who can thrive in any environment,” she says. “Our alumni go on to develop solutions for business and society at large, and so it made sense to partner with Mukuru, a leading African technology platform driving cutting-edge fintech to improve the lives of Africans.

“This resonates with our purpose. The young women were superb, and I have no doubt they will grow into role models for future generations of female developers.”

 

Author

Related posts

Overview of The Economic Development Strategies In The Middle East’s GCC Region

Richie Santosdiaz

Funding Circle Lists on London Stock Exchange

Manisha Patel

Six ways to cope with the huge spike in customer call volume

Manisha Patel