BitMari a blockchain startup incubated by BitHub Africa, has teamed up with the National Society of Black Engineers to bring you a unique opportunity to tackle financial challenges across the global African Diaspora.
Through its iLoveBlackPeople bus tour, BitMari has been inviting undergraduate students, graduate student, and professionals across all fields, including developers, designers, product developers, and entrepreneurs, plus businesses that want to embrace the idea of social innovation or initiatives that combine a positive mission with business.
See the bus tour video trailer and tour photos below:
Students can now enter the pitch competition and win up to $5,000 for sending a youtube link with a 60 seconds pitch on an idea that uses Bitcoin technology which will qualify them for a hackathon at the end of November.
The goal of the pitch competition and hackathon is to help students across American and African universities to identify problems and challenges within their local communities and identify workable solutions using Open Source Blockchain based technologies like Bitcoin as well as the BitMari FinTech Platform.
The students must pitch in any of these two thematic areas:
- Solutions targeting Financial Crisis within African communities globally. E.g. Access to cash, funding and other key Financial Services.
- Solutions targeting Humanitarian Crisis within African communities globally. e.g. Disaster Awareness, Prevention and Mitigation.
PITCHING JUDGEMENT CRITERIA
The teams will be judged on the following criteria: (10 marks for each criteria)
- Problem Solving: Does the idea/concept provide a solution in areas relevant to the theme of the competition.
- Presentation Style: Was the idea or concept communicated in a clear and understandable manner to the judges.
- Technology Expertise: Did the team have a clear understanding of Bitcoin technology. Did the team adapt the technology resourcefully to solve the identified problem.
- Product Demonstration: Did team demonstrate competence in developing a minimum viable product concept. Extra marks for actual demos during the pitch.
Students, can signup for the pitching competition here!
WINNERS & HACKATHON
A winning pitching team will be selected from each university for the final ONLINE hackathon to be held 1st and 2nd December 2017.
Teams are required to present working demos in a 10 minute pitch also judged on the above criteria. The online hackathon will be held and recorded via google hangout for where each team will select their team leader to present the final pitch and demo of the proposed solution.
The google hangout will be edited and uploaded and shared via youtube to all participants following the event. The goal is to ensure the entire process is available as a learning process to all participating universities and interested parties.
PARTICIPATORY REWARDS & PRIZES
All participants will receive a copy of The African Blockchain Opportunity Report(133 Pages) published by BitHub.Africa valued @ $30.00. They will also have access to learning and training resources on Pitching, Marketing provided by BitHub.Africa and BitMari.
There will be 3 winners in the final ONLINE hackathon. They will be awarded as follows:
- Winners: 0.5 Bitcoin
- 1st Runners Up: 0.25 Bitcoin
- 2nd Runners Up: 0.1 Bitcoin
U.S. TOUR STOPS
- HOWARD UNIVERSITY Washington, DC | October 3, 2017
- UNIVERSITY OF DC Washington, DC | October 3, 2017
- MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Baltimore, MD | October 4, 2017
- COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY Baltimore, MD | October 5, 2017
- NC A&T UNIVERSITY Greensboro, NC | October 7, 2017
- TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY Nashville, TN | October 10, 2017
- FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY Tallahassee, FL | October 14, 2017
- TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY Tuskegee, AL | October 16, 2017
- MOREHOUSE/SPELMAN/CLARK Atlanta, GA | October 21, 2017
- JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY Jackson, MS | October 23, 2017
- HUTSON-TILLOTSON UNIVERSITY Austin, TX | October 25, 2017
- TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY Houston, TX | October 26, 2017
- PRAIRIE VIEW UNIVERSITY Prairie View, TX | October 27, 2017
- PAUL QUINN COLLEGE Dallas, TX | October 28, 2017
- HARRIS-STOWE St. Louis MO | October 31, 2017
ZIMBABWE TOUR STOPS
- LUPANE STATE UNIVERSITY Lupane | November 16, 2017
- NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Bulawayo | November 16, 2017
- MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY Bulawayo | November 17, 2017
- GREAT ZIMBABWE UNIVERSITY Masvingo | November 18, 2017
- AFRICA UNIVERSITY Mutare | November 20, 2017
- UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE Harare | November 23, 2017
