Ideas beyond borders at HackFest 2025

Innovation isn’t just what we do – it’s part of who we are. In an incredible display of talent and creativity, teams from across Vodacom Group, Vodafone Group and VOIS came together for the HackFest Global Finale. It was a powerful celebration of our culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement across the globe.

The nail-biting finale took place on 11 June, completely online, bringing together innovators, technology experts and passionate problem solvers to battle it out for the top spot in each category: Customer, Simplicity, Growth and Purpose.

Congratulations to the winners, who developed and presented an outstanding array of solutions that speak directly to our strategic ambitions and have the potential to make a global impact.

And our HackFest Global winners are...

Customer Challenge

Ground Breakers, Tanzania

Enhancing Vodacom’s ability to identify technical issues before customers report them helps to address high call volumes. CX Pulse, an AI-powered platform, conducts repeated automated tests using bots to simulate real-world user journeys, detects anomalies early, sends alerts, and escalates unresolved issues for faster resolution and improved customer experience.

Simplicity Challenge

Beyond Lungano, Mozambique

Voice to Value leverages AI to automate call summarisation. Summaries are sent to Remedy, categorised by issue type, and displayed on a dashboard showing issue volumes, healthy services and warnings. The solution improves visibility, accelerates response times, and reduces manual effort in managing and classifying customer issues.

Growth Challenge

Hyper Local Sales, Vodafone UK

Using network insights to drive growth where Vodafone’s performance excels, this solution identifies top postcodes, enabling targeted marketing with minimal investment. This approach enhances customer experience, retention and brand value.

Purpose Challenge

Lynx InTouch, DRC, Egypt & South Africa

NoWalls is an AI-driven solution with computer vision that instantly translates sign language into speech, revolutionising communication for all people with disabilities, especially the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Scalable and seamlessly integrable across any devices, web browsers and apps, it connects users to vital services such as healthcare, education, banking, and more.

Bringing their A-game

Looking back, it’s been a whirlwind to get to this point. Entry into HackFest opened in Q3 of 2024, giving hopefuls the chance to submit their ideas and then develop their concepts over the summer break.

The new year kicked off with the local market hackathons, culminating in the All-Africa Finale. Innovators from eight African countries flew in to South Africa for a three-day live event.

From high-energy coding sessions to unforgettable moments of live drumming, dancing and music, the vibe at the HackFest All-Africa Finale was electric. Check out the highlights!

Our top teams brought their A-game to the competition, ideating, coding and polishing their pitches for solutions designed to make a meaningful impact. Their brilliant ideas showed how we are moving beyond mobile – enabling inclusion and creating a better future by pioneering innovative solutions that reshape Africa’s technology landscape.

The judging panel, including Group CEO Shameel Joosub and fellow Exco members, were inspired by the quality of ideas, the effort and the commitment shown by all participants.

Congratulations to everyone who made it to the HackFest All-Africa Finale