The Build for Africa Hackathon: Tips for Choosing the Right Idea

Are you ready to build innovative solutions tailored to the unique challenges faced by Africans?

Welcome aboard the Build for Africa Bitcoin and Lightning Hackathon train! As you prepare to dive into building, we want to share some valuable insights to help you choose the right idea to enter for the hackathon, and maximize your chances of success.

Simplicity matters

Your solution doesn't have to be complex to be great. Simple actually rocks. What's more important is that it solves a real problem that a real human has.

Don't copy from the West

Please do not try to build "The African... (insert western bitcoin product name)". Their problems are not our problems. Start from a real problem a small group of Africans are facing and build for that. Wallets and exchanges are great, but please NO.

Forget SuperApp

Like in 1 above, please do not create one product that does everything for everyone. Pick a tiny segment of the market that you can do one thing for very well.

Africans want to earn

Yes, we want to send money, but more importantly, our people want to make money. If you can build a solution that helps Africans earn sats with the skills and abilities they already have, you are on to something.

Don't just think about the product

Beyond building a prototype, we also want you think about how you will get users on your product and how you will sustain it. Find team members who are not developers to answer these questions.

Copy from the Dreamboard

If you don't know what to build, not a problem, copy one of the ideas from the Dreamboard .

Build For Africa DreamBoard

miro.com

There are a number of great suggestions there that meet the criteria above, feel free to copy away. What's more important is that they get built.

By reading this, you have demonstrated interest in engaging with Bitcoin as a producer not just a consumer and that's a great thing. This could be the first step to you launching the next Bitnob or Machankura, you never know. Just pick an idea and start...