#LifeatMest2 — How to Hack a Hackathon
A weekly review of my entrepreneurial journey at Meltwater School of Technology, Ghana
“ABSA eh, eh
Ayo oh , eh
ABSA eh, eh
Ayo oh, oh”
This was our chant for the recently completed hackathon organized by MEST and the ASBA team in Ghana. This event took place on the 19–21st of October 2022 at Melt Water School of Technology, since it was my second week here, I decided to write about it and share lessons from it
Day 1 — Getting the Wing of it
Day 1 began on Wednesday, and as usual, the energy was up! We gathered at MEST Incubator where we met the ABSA Team, and staff of MEST like Gehard Malah, Funke Makinwa, Rhema Andah, Funke Makinwa, and others who put the event together. During registration we were randomly peered into groups of 5. so there was no chance to “choose” your team members. This was the first lesson I learned;
In Life, you would work with people you do not know, learn to get along with them
The event was officiated by Mr. Yaw Kodua Odoom, a member of ABSA Bank, he made it fun and interesting by asking us to write what we all wanted to gain from the hackathon. There was all manner of responses on the large paper, some participants wanted to learn how a hackathon works, and others were direct; they were here for the grand price of $5,000.
Mr. Horatio Dodoo, Head of Retail and SME Banking addressed us on why the hackathon was important and what the Bank was looking out for. ABSA bank was seeking fresh and innovative solutions to break into the market. He mentioned 7 focus areas we could build from. After a series of questions and answers. we were dispersed to our various groups to begin the game
On the first day of the hackathon, we spent time, choosing our area of focus. from the core teams given, we selected 3 key areas we want to brainstorm on;
1. New ways of funding SME businesses
2. Providing banking to the lower end of the mass market
3. Alternative credit decisioning for retail customers by leveraging data
After a full day of brainstorming, we went with number 3. SMEs couldn’t get funding because they are not able to track their data, if we could provide alternative ways of grading their creditworthiness, Banks would be able to loan and support more SMEs.
Day 2: On Feedback & Elevator Pitches
On Day 2, Our next step was to brainstorm solutions to the problem we identified, validate them and pitch our ideas to the team for review and feedback. We struggled to settle down on one. The second lesson learned was;
Move fast and iterate quickly. Better to work with an unfinished tested idea, than a perfect solution you have not validated
Day 2 was really the testing stage for a lot of teams, by now, the initial excitement over the event was over, and we were quite anxious to pitch and test our ideas. The teams that did well with their elevator pitches would move to the next stage: prototyping.
This was what would make or break teams, and we were quickly losing steam. you could literally touch the tension in the room & cut it with a knife.
Pitching began by 2 pm, in that time, the judges expected us to have had our problem statement, and value proposition nicely put in a 60 seconds elevator pitch.
We were certain of our problem statement and solution having gotten feedback from the Product Manager of ABSA
We had to run our value proposition to our Fellows and make sure we were on the right path. MEST fellows, (also our teachers) asked us a series of questions we could not confidently answer, this scared us and we decided to completely change our area of focus, and come up with a new problem, a solution, and a new pitch. This was where the third lesson revealed itself;
Do not make decisions out of fear or panic, rather take your to evlauate your choices and go with the most confident plan, even if you fail, its your best bet
Day 3: Go Big or Go Home
Out of 19 teams that pitched on Thursday, 10 were selected to move to the next stage. These teams have 24 hours to build a mockup of their solutions, refine their value propositions, and create stellar presentations. not an easy challenge.
On Friday everyone knew what was at stake, Literally any of these teams could make it to the top 3, winning GHS 50,000, GHS 30,000, and GHS 20,000 respectively
Post-Hackathon Review
Here’s what a few participants had to say about the Hackathon;
“I worked with people from different backgrounds, using design thinking methods to Design thinking techniques fintech problems and brainstorm solutions. I learned how to properly tackle problems and find solutions if possible.” — Apuliba Atawine Richard, Ghana, Team Go
“I learned to persevere and stick to my goals. it was challenging but we won. Our solution was an agency-based USSD application that allows unbanked persons to access ABSA solutions. In my next hackathon, I would definitely do more research than we did for this hackathon” — Jentrix Wanyama, La Rouge (2nd Runner Up)
“The hackathon was good, a little bit of self-doubt caused me to prove to myself that I could do this. the most challenging part of the Hackathon was clearly defining our problem, we spent a lot of time there. Our solution was an alternative data solution to credit scoring by leveraging other data sources to access loans” — John Isutsah, Kenya, Team Insyt, (Winning Team)
In all, many participants were dissatisfied with how they performed, there were friction between teams, tension and nervousness at the Hackathon. There were many low times, and moments when we felt like giving up. The fact that my team stuck through to the end, pivoting 30 minutes before the pitch was something to be proud of.
In such a fast paced working environment, team work is crucial, every moment counts, and learning to work together even in disagreement is an important skill.
Now over to you, have you ever been to a hackathon? What was your experience like, what lessons did you draw out of it? Most especially how would you “hack” your next one?
Share your opinions and ideas here, or reach out via mail at favour.onukogu@meltwater.org
#Hackathons #ABSAHacks #LifeatMEST #EiT
