Rwandans tech start-ups stand a chance to win up to $10,000 at a continental tech boot-camp co-organised by Polygon, a global block-chain network, and Xend Finance, a Nigerian fintech organization that aims to help credit unions, cooperatives, and individuals to save in stable currencies.

Announced late September, the Polygon Bootcamp Africa Program 2022 program is an eight-week mentorship and hackathon that will run through December. It will bring together more than 2,000 developers who work with numerous developer organizations in countries including Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt.

The camp comprises a six-week-long learning program where various developers will take part, and a two-week long hackathon phase for those who will qualify out of the first phase.

During the hackathon, participants will have to build decentralized projects on Polygon block-chain and compete for financial and mentorship prizes.

Money for grabs

The hackathon will include two tracks: the beginners’ and the mastery track.

The beginners’ track will be open for developers who are new in the web3 space and do not have any Web3 experience yet. It is designed to help them take the next step in their Web3 development journey.

Web3 is a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics.

The best performing developer in this category will win $5,000, while the first and second runners-up will get $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.

The 10 projects that follow will each get $500.

The mastery track will focus on advanced Web3 learning, targeting those who have some experience in the Web3 space. The first, second and third project in this category will be awarded with $10,000, $7,000 and $5,000 respectively.

The top three projects will also get direct access to Polygon’s accelerator program, for further mentorship and funding, while the 30 projects that follow will each be awarded $750.

"The future is indeed bright. We see Web3 as the only industry with the right technology to solve Africa’s numerous financial problems,” said Dalip Tyagi, the Developer Relations Team Lead at Polygon.

‘’Working with Polygon allows their existing developer base, along with new developers across Africa, to tap into the power of the Polygon block-chain and ecosystem using Xend Finance’s technology,’’ he added.

hkuteesa@newtimesrwanda.com