Three South African youth teams were selected among the top performers at the 11th edition of the annual GirlCodeHack hackathon.
The 30-hour hackathon, run by Absa, in partnership with GirlCode, brought together young women from eight African cities – Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam and Gaborone.
It was held simultaneously in multiple cities under the theme: “Future-proofing Africa: Innovation at the intersection of fintech, cyber security and artificial intelligence.”
This marks the second year Absa has sponsored the Africa leg of the hackathon. The partnership has expanded from three countries in 2024 to five in 2025.
This reflects Absa’s ongoing commitment to empowering women in technology across the continent, says the bank.
“It was truly inspiring to witness how participants tackled the same challenge from diverse angles, each bringing fresh insights and bold, innovative thinking,” says Tamu Dutuma, head of strategy and transformation, technology – Absa regional operations.
“This is the power of inclusive innovation. At Absa, we believe that empowering women in tech and embracing diverse perspectives is not just a value − it’s a catalyst for meaningful change across Africa’s tech landscape.”
Each host city recognised stand-out projects demonstrating creativity, technical skill and impact potential. The top performers were:
- Johannesburg: TechGurlies developed FinLit GPT, a solution addressing youth debt by promoting financial literacy and empowering better money decisions.
- Cape Town: Ndlela created AI Career Coach, an intelligent platform that offers personalised career and upskilling guidance.
- Durban: CyberShield Africa designed Rural Cyber App, a tool raising cyber security awareness in rural communities.
- Kenya: Avytria developed Jasho, a daily income tracker for entrepreneurs using voice and facial recognition.
- Uganda: Code Force introduced Teleka, a student savings app helping users organise and invest their money.
- Botswana: CredilQ built an AI-powered credit intelligence platform bridging the gap between SMEs and financial institutions.
- Tanzania: Tokiva Sisters developed PayNest, a biometric budgeting and payment app that unifies multiple digital wallets into one secure system.
- Ghana: Locked In launched a digital savings platform modernising Africa’s traditional “susu” and group savings methods.
The prize of R100 000 was awarded to Tokiva Sisters from Tanzania for their innovative financial management platform.
“Tokiva Sisters impressed with a forward-thinking solution aimed at empowering young people to take charge of their finances,” notes Zandile Mkwanazi, CEO of GirlCode.
“Their creativity, skills and dedication show the remarkable talent young women are bringing to tech. It’s exciting to see their project’s potential for real-world impact.”
GirlCodeHack says its continental reach continues to grow each year, promoting collaboration across borders and demonstrating how diversity accelerates innovation.
“This year’s hackathon showed exactly how collaboration drives innovation,” adds Mkwanazi. “Young women built skills, confidence and networks that will continue long after the event, perfectly illustrating our goal of expanding access and representation in tech.”
GirlCode’s mission is to empower 10 million women and girls with tech skills by 2030.
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