Welcome to High Commission of India Nairobi, Kenya

Press release for "Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge"

High Commission of India

Nairobi

***

Press release for "Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge"

India seeks to establish a bilateral innovation corridor with Kenya through a start-up challenge

"Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge" seeks startups and new solutions for challenges in financial services, agriculture, education, manufacturing, logistics and environment, with an overarching focus on ESG

The winner of the startup track will be awarded a week-long, all-expenses-paid Innovation Ecosystem tour to India

3 other prizes totalling KES 175,000 in cash up for grabs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15th June 2023, Nairobi

The "Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge" was announced in April 2023 by India-headquartered start-up accelerator, Hindsight Ventures, supported by the High Commission of India to Kenya, and in association with Zoho Corp and Bank of India. The program invited applications from enterprising Kenyan youth (as individuals or teams) to use technology and solve mass challenges across financial services, agriculture, education, manufacturing, logistics and environment, with an overarching theme of ESG.

"High Commission joined hands with Hindsight Ventures to launch the Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge as an initiative towards building a robust bilateral startup and innovation corridor between India and Kenya by bringing together young innovators from Kenya. This is by bringing together young innovators from Kenya with the expertise of Indian start-ups and IT companies. Our countries can work together to bring solutions to global problems through innovation, skill and technology. India is willing to share its experiences and learnings with Kenya for larger benefits of our peoples.” High Commissioner of India HE Ms Namgya Khampa said.

With over 150+ unique submissions across the startup track and hackathon track, 10 participants were selected for a week-long bootcamp, through a multi-stage review process, involving jury members from the industry. The bootcamp involved mentoring sessions to fine tune the finalists business plans and pitch deck for the finale to be held on June 15, in Nairobi. The finalists included startups and ideas focussing on financial inclusion, circular economy, education, agriculture and healthcare to name the prominent sectors. The overarching theme of the Pamoja Hackathon and Innovation Challenge environmental, social and governance, sustainability, and net zero.

“We got to see some good quality applications that came through, with scalable use cases that can leverage digital and technology to solve mass challenges. We are humbled to have the backing of the High Commission of India to Kenya, for this initiative as there exists a tremendous potential to link the two markets via startups and entrepreneurship. It was only appropriate that we had an Indian Unicorn - Zoho Corp., as one of the partners, and the hackathon track participants built their prototypes on the Zoho Creator App. Likewise, banks have been at the forefront of digital innovation, and it was fantastic to have the support of Bank of India as well. We see this as a great opportunity to build on.” Ajay Ramasubramaniam, co-founder and CEO of Hindsight said.

The finale was held on Thursday, 15th June 2023, which witnessed Top-10 shortlisted ideas / entrepreneurs pitching to an audience comprising Government representatives, industry leaders, successful entrepreneurs and investors. There were prizes galore for the top startups and entrepreneurs participating - the winner of the startup challenge track was awarded an all-expenses-paid week-long innovation ecosystem tour to India to "enable them to build linkages and further establish their ventures.

In addition, there were 3 other prizes totalling KES 175,000 in cash, mainly sponsored by Bank of India were distributed to the runners-up of the startup track and Top-2 finalists from the Hackathon track.

Winners of the Innovation Challenge:

1st Prize: Zero Carbon

2nd Prize: Ustawi

Winners of Hackathon Challenge:

1st Prize: Thorium Organic

2nd Prize: Roak Swahili Wear

VIP Guests

Hon. Eng. John Kipchumba Tanui, Principal Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy,

(Ministry of Information, Communications and Telecommunication)

Amb. Arthur Andambi,

Director Asia & Australasia Directorate,

(Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs)