Young builders working together on laptops at a hackathon in a bright room
Open now: West Africa AI Youth Innovation Challenge · closes Tue 10 Nov

Where Africa’s young builders compete.

Pick a challenge, register your team, submit your work and get judged on a sealed scorecard. Every AfCEN hackathon runs here.

Enter the West Africa AI challengeSee all hackathons
Two young founders testing an AI app on a phone and a laptop in a bright co-working space (generated image)

Open now · WAIIS 2026 · Digital Transformation Pillar

Open for entries

West Africa AI Youth Innovation Challenge

Youth-led AI startups from across West Africa in three themes, pitching at Bintumani with winners announced at WAIIS 2026 in Freetown.

Submissions
2 to 10 Nov 2026
Awards
USD 15,000
Where
Online, then Freetown
RegisterView the challenge

How it works

Every hackathon runs the same way, on one platform.

A team of four working through an idea around one table with laptops
1

Register

Create one account, then join the challenge you want. Pick a track or pillar as you sign up.

2

Build and submit

Upload your deck, demo and documents before the deadline. You can edit until submissions close.

3

Judged on a sealed scorecard

Every entry is scored on the same criteria. Results stay sealed until the announcement.

4

What follows

Teams that keep building stay on the platform, with mentors, investors and opportunities.

Past hackathons

What teams have built so far.

A participant shaking hands with a judge at the AYSC 2026 Climate Hackathon in Nairobi22 to 24 June 2026IESS 2026 · Climate hackathon

AYSC 2026 Climate Hackathon

Three days in Nairobi where teams of young innovators built climate and energy solutions across nine tracks.See what was built

Find the challenge that fits what you are building.

One account works for every AfCEN hackathon.

See the hackathons