The annual Connected Kenya summit is a platform that brings over 500 ICT thought leaders together to freely share and exchange ideas on how to harness intellectual capital to generate economic value, as well as mechanisms of perpetuating technology as a catalyst for service delivery in the region.

Developers from universities across Kenya gathered at The Bomas of Kenya for the inaugural #codethefuture hack-a-thon as part of the Connected Summit 2018 hosted by the ICT Authority of Kenya. The hack-a-thon challenged participants to develop a solution showcasing how digital payments can help achieve the big 4 agenda in Kenya.

Mula, Africa’s one-stop payments app and platform from Cellulant, powered digital payments for the summit. Mula allows users to pay and get paid digitally.

#codethefuture, a Cellulant sponsored initiative, seeks to challenge and empower students across all education levels and academic backgrounds to imagine and create local solutions to African challenges across all sectors. At the core, the program seeks to groom up-and-coming African talent in technology and spark innovation that will transform every sector in Africa- focusing on leveraging global innovation to solve local challenges.

With this initiative, Cellulant is inviting young coders to participate in the initiative and be part of the journey to building a stronger payments infrastructure for Africa while innovating for better local payments solutions that connect African consumers to what matters to them. Participants in #codethefuture are mentored by Cellulant staff who have been integral in developing digital payments solutions across Africa in the past 15 years.

Commenting on the event held this week, Divine Muragijimana, Cellulant’s Chief of Brand said, “#codethefuture is really about challenging young students across Africa to dream, and realize the Africa they want. It is something that is aligned around who we are as Cellulant, believing that Africa’s future is going to be built by Africans, but we have to start now. This program is one way of doing it and we are excited to have kicked this off in Kenya and looking forward to hosting more of this in the coming year across Africa.”

“the promise for every product we bring to the market is made Africa digitally connected, across borders, across networks, and across all digital platforms in one single step. Essentially, this is what Mula aims to accomplish by developing a one-stop shop for payments. And by extending our innovations to young developers with events such as #codethefuture, we are able to bridge the gap between the solutions we create today and sustaining these solutions into the future by bringing young talent into the fold,” added Faizal Mirza, Cellulant’s Chief Product Officer and chief architect of the Mula.

Interested universities are welcome to apply to host #codethefuture in 2019 at cellulant.com/codethefuture