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In a major step toward empowering Africa’s youth with emerging tech skills, Qhala, Huawei, and Konza Technopolis joined forces to host the Africa AI Literacy Week Hackathon a high-impact, continent-wide initiative designed to foster AI knowledge, build problem-solving capacity, and spark cross-sector innovation.
The 24-hour hackathon drew 50 student participants from universities across Africa, including an in-person team and a remote cohort from Moi University.
Participants were challenged to build AI-powered solutions addressing real-world problems in key thematic areas: Agriculture, Fintech, Healthcare, Education, and Governance.
The event put a strong emphasis on agriculture — a sector critical to Africa’s economy and food security — and inspired practical, high-potential innovations from the next generation of tech talent.
Taking first place was a team that developed an AI-powered platform to predict market prices for agricultural products, helping farmers, traders, and financial institutions make informed decisions.
By aggregating historical data, real-time market trends, and weather patterns, the tool aims to reduce market uncertainty, minimize exploitation, and increase profitability for smallholder farmers.
Two teams shared second place. One team designed a comprehensive farm data collection and analysis system, enhanced with an AI chatbot to guide farmers in best practices, yield forecasting, and pest management. The chatbot, available in local languages, bridges the knowledge gap for rural farmers, offering personalized insights even without constant internet access.
The second runner-up team introduced an AI and Augmented Reality (AR) mobile application that overlays real-time building intelligence such as infrastructure conditions, usage stats, or historical context through a smartphone camera. Although the core application is geared toward urban planning and construction, the team demonstrated how the same model could be adapted to farm structures and agricultural infrastructure, offering insights on storage optimization, irrigation mapping, and more.
The top team received Huawei MatePad tablets, while the two runners-up were awarded Huawei Band 10 smartwatches — tools to support their continued development and exploration of tech innovation.
This year’s hackathon was more than a competition it was a launchpad for young innovators to collaborate, learn, and apply AI to Africa’s most urgent challenges. Participants worked under the guidance of mentors from academia, industry, Huawei’s technical team, and Konza Technopolis, receiving hands-on support in everything from ideation to prototyping and presentation design.
“Artificial intelligence is a key driver of the next frontier of development, and Konza is determined to be at the center of its growth and application across the continent,” said Josephine Ndambuki, Chief Manager for Business Development & Innovation at Konza Technopolis Development Authority. “We’re proud to support this initiative, which ensures that as we build the Silicon Savannah, young people are equipped to lead it.”
This focus on practical, localized innovation was echoed by Dr. Shikoh Gitau, CEO of Qhala, who reminded participants that “Africa cannot afford to be left behind as AI transforms industries and societies. We must create the awareness, support, and platforms that allow African youth to innovate and solve problems through AI because they understand our challenges best.”
The hackathon highlighted the importance of collaboration between public and private institutions in building Africa’s digital ecosystem.
Adam Lane, Director for Policy and Partnerships at Huawei Kenya, emphasized the company’s ongoing commitment: “Huawei is proud to provide the latest skills, Cloud platforms, and resources that empower African developers to build AI solutions. We believe in building local capacity, and that means partnering with government, academia, and startups to make tech accessible and impactful.”
Throughout the event, participants tackled challenges ranging from digitizing farm input distribution, to AI-enhanced educational engagement tools and fintech apps for unbanked populations. The diversity and originality of ideas underscored Kenya’s fast-growing pool of tech talent and the importance of creating opportunities for them to apply their skills meaningfully.
Organizers hailed the hackathon as a resounding success and expressed strong interest in scaling future editions to reach more institutions and broaden thematic coverage.
As Africa positions itself in the global AI landscape, initiatives like the Africa AI Literacy Hackathon are proving to be vital not just in building technical skills, but in unlocking the creativity and leadership of a new generation. In doing so, they lay the groundwork for inclusive, locally driven digital transformation.
