In furtherance of United Nations activities towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a three-day UN Influx Global Hackathon was held in Lagos.
The camp for was hosted at Sidmach Technologies head office in Alausa Ikeja.
Co-incidentally the Day 1 of the Hackathon event was also the same day Sidmach launched its “Cloud Solutions”, however, not overwhelmed with the asperity of the Cloud launch, the Hackathon event commenced later in the afternoon at about 4:00 PM.
Speaking on the Hackathon event, Mr. Peter Arogundade, managing director of Sidmach Technologies, said that it was a privilege for the Company as a notable brand in the tech space in Nigeria to host the Lagos session of the event holding simultaneously in nine regions, across five continents, with over 100 young programmers with unique solutions from all over the country (Nigeria) in attendance.
“It was one of our defining moments because we are always looking forward to promoting entrepreneurship and technology startups.
“The UN Influx hackathon held in Lagos was indeed a success, as part of our corporate social responsibilities (CSR) we (Sidmach) supported the event with every resource required from us to ensure it was impactful and laudable. The event featured different tech startups with transformative and disruptive solutions, each of these startups also had the opportunity to pitch their solutions during the competition.
“As part of our contribution to the UN-Influx Hackathon, we also offered six-month internship to any of the developers (participants) who is willing to join the Sidmach team and learn from experienced software developers and programers. What this meant for the participants is that those who are not part of the winning team can leverage on the internship platform to fine-tune their skills and grow.
“One of our goals at Sidmach is to provide support and build capacity in every area we can to facilitate developmental transformation in the country especially in the area of technology. We are always evolving, developing solutions that are capable of transforming lives. It is in line with our corporate values that we find the UN Influx Hackathon an event that will engender growth and development in Nigeria technology space,” he said.
For a few decades now, the United Nations and the people they represent have felt disconnected from each other. In 2012, Max Kalis, founder of Influx Trust, felt it was time to re-instate the UN’s identity as the middle man between the people and the government.
It was then that Influx Trust, a community that supports better engagement between the UN and the public using innovative technology, was born.
Since then, Influx Trust has actively been connecting people from all over the world with the United Nations, and the United Nations with the people they represent.
The UN-Influx Hackathon is aimed at creating a network of movers and shakers around the world to connect, create and collaborate for more impactful solutions to local and global challenges.
The annual hackathon held in Nigeria for the first time focused on ninth (9) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN: ‘Industry Innovation & Infrastructure’ and intended for young Nigerians to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey and receive the resources to become social entrepreneurs that really makes difference to the world.