Techies are readying to compete in the second MTN MoMo Hackathon in Cameroon to develop innovative Fintech applications using the MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) API to stand a chance of winning a share of US$10,000 in prize money.

MTN says the baseline rule is that competitors must create solutions which leverage mobile money to accelerate financial inclusion and digitise payments in a bid to drive MTN MoMo as a universal payment method in Cameroon.

Developers must ensure that proposed solutions target consumers, merchants, or businesses and are user-friendly and relevant to use-cases beyond payments.

Entry into the competition is free and candidates whose ideas are selected after the 14 August 2022 submission deadline will then have four weeks to develop their ideas with demos of their applications.

MTN said candidates can organise teams of no more than four members and submissions can be made in English or French.

The hackathon will also be hosted in other markets including eSwatini, Zambia, Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Guinea.

CEO of Mobile Money Corporation Alain Nono said, “These innovations will enable them to offer an increasingly wide range of digital solutions for MTN customers, so that they can more easily manage their collection, disbursement, transfer or fundraising operations.”

Three finalists, from a shortlist of 12, will stand a chance of sharing US$10,000 in prize money.

“This is an opportunity for our talents of the digital economy in Cameroon. They will demonstrate their know-how and will be mentored by industry experts. The competition will also allow us to grow the MTN MoMo ecosystem so that the solutions bring even more value to all its users, individuals, associations or companies,” Nono added.