WhereIsMyTransport & Facebook for Developers to host The CONNECT Series of Hackathons in five cities across Africa

WhereIsMyTransport has partnered with Facebook for Developers to host the ‘CONNECT Hackathon Series’, with the first event taking place at GEN’s 22 on Sloane Campus in Johannesburg. Hosted across four additional cities including Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Nairobi, the CONNECT series brings together diverse developers and startups looking to build innovative location-aware applications to address the challenges and opportunities of moving people and goods in the region’s cities.

In Johannesburg, Facebook and WhereIsMyTransport provide access and expertise to help participants build mobile solutions that combine the Facebook Places Graph API and the WhereIsMyTransport Public Transport API. In all the cities across the region, the CONNECT series partnered with local hubs of innovation, like 22 on Sloane, and local Developer Circles from Facebook – the company’s program to support communities of people passionate about technology, sharing ideas, learning, and collaborating.

The winning team was awarded $1000 USD, with second and third place winners provided with $500 each in Facebook advertising credits. Additionally, all three teams will be provided with a year’s worth of free access to the WhereIsMyTransport Public Transport API.

Commenting on the CONNECT Hackathon series, Marsh Reddy, Platform Evangelist from WhereIsMyTransport said: “I think we have put together something really special for the Gauteng. Digitalising public transport routes in the region allow for local talent to build solutions that help citizens directly. We’re looking forward to seeing what gets built.”

Proud Dzambukira, Strategic Partner Manager Platform Partnerships; Sub-Saharan Africa, Facebook, added: “Facebook is defined by its hacker culture, and we’re excited to be partnering with WhereIsMyTransport to bring this hackathon series to the developer community. Efficiently moving people and goods between places is a fundamental problem that a number of startups are solving for cities in the region. Our platform can help add significant value to that work and we’re eager to see the innovative solutions which will be created for these events.”

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