The DataHack4FI innovation competition pairs data scientists with technology and financial service start-ups to develop data-driven solutions to deliver financial services in Africa.
After a successful first season of the DataHack4FI competition in 2016 and 2017, Season 2 has been running in six countries from October 2017 to April 2018: Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Uganda.
Each country winner will be invited to attend the Grand Finale in Kigali in May 2018, where they will be given the opportunity to pitch their solution in front of a panel of judges.
In Uganda, participants will be competing today on solutions they have been working on since 15 February 2018 for the chance to take home the country prize and compete on the national stage in May. Nine data scientists have been paired with nine fitness whose start-ups focus on solutions that range from agent network optimization to alternative data-driven credit scoring.
i2i believes partnerships such as these are key to unlocking the power of data for financial inclusion and generating the momentum and impact that are needed to bring innovative data-driven solutions to market in Uganda and in Africa.
A cash prize will be awarded to the team that has developed the best data-driven solution, with an additional bonus cash prize for those targeting women and youth.
To bring the competition to life in Uganda, i2i has partnered with the Innovation Village, Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU), Liquid Telecom and UKAid. Together we have pooled our resources and knowledge to help participants grow.
DataHack4FI is an innovation competition that brings together data enthusiasts and financial service providers (FSPs) to promote data-driven solutions for delivering financial services to emerging consumer segments in Africa. DataHack4FI is an insight2impact initiative, with the support of our in-country partners. The competition is supported by the MasterCard Foundation and the IDRC.