NEARLY 100 youth from across the eThekwini region will compete against each other for the R75 000 cash prize during the Hackathon Youth Challenge which begins today, 25 May 2015, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus.
The youth will be divided into groups where they will explore social problems, identify challenges facing their communities and provide solutions using technological innovation. They will engage in various tasks that will lead to them developing innovative solutions to address socio-economic challenges facing the City.
The Hackathon challenge will also promote and instil the culture of entrepreneurship among the youth and it is hoped that this will in turn boost the economy of the City.
The week long challenge will end on 29 May 2015, where youth will be capacitated with technical skills and apply the latest International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) model technology to solve social, cultural and economic challenges.
Mayor Cllr James Nxumalo said that the Municipality decided to engage the youth in this exercise because the whole country is faced with a high unemployment rate especially among the youth.
“This is an important vehicle to empower our citizens especially the youth to become innovative in their communities and businesses which will lead to economic growth. This is one of the programmes that will enable our City to be globally competitive. Such challenges will allow the youth to think broadly about the opportunities available that they can explore to create employment,” said Nxumalo.
The overall winner will walk away with R75 000, the second runner up will get R35 000 and third place will receive R15 000.
