GirlCode Pan-African Hackathon — AI, FinTech and Cybersecurity Track Reaches Gaborone

GirlCode, a South African social enterprise whose stated goal is to expose 10 million women and girls to technology by 2030, runs an annual Pan-African Hackathon themed 'Future-Proofing Africa: Innovation at the Intersection of FinTech, Cybersecurity and AI'. Teams of 2–4 women aged 18–35, drawn from university students and recent graduates, build and pitch solutions over a 30-hour period.
The hackathon's footprint expanded from three countries in 2024 to five in 2025, when Gaborone, Botswana joined Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Nairobi, Kampala and Dar es Salaam as a simultaneous host city, with headline sponsor Absa Group backing a grand prize of R100,000. Registration materials for the 2026 edition again list Botswana alongside South Africa as an August host location.
Public reporting covers participation criteria, city footprint and sponsorship, but no independently verified data on Gaborone-specific participant numbers, skills gained, or post-hackathon outcomes (e.g. employment or further study) has been published; the organisation's stated reach target ('10 million by 2030') is an ambition, not a measured result.

Read the full analysis: https://ai-impact.co.za/annual-girlcode-hackathon-set-to-empower-women-in-tech-across-africa/