Hacked it!
The annual Hackathon showcases innovation in real time – and our next event is going to be bigger than ever. The 2022 Hackathon winners, Team Ama-Glug-Glug, share their top tips for this year’s participants.
The upcoming Hackathon will be bigger and better, with 24 competitors from across Africa competing for their share of more than $70 000. And then we go global, with the final battle taking place next year between the winners from Africa and Vodafone’s Markets in Europe.
The highly anticipated three-day Hackathon calls on programmers and software developers to build a working prototype of a digital solution for specific business challenges.
The competition is open to all permanent and contractor staff, not just the tech-heads, to enter their own idea for a digital solution or to volunteer their unique skills and be recruited to a team.
In 2022, Team Ama-Glug-Glug, one of the youngest ever teams, took first place with their idea, Network4U. Their working prototype identifies instances of low network usage with high network capacity to proactively manage J4U offers, ticking the box for customer experience while generating revenue.
We caught up with this dynamic young team to find out how their digital solution is coming along one year later.
What role did you play in the Ama-Glug-Glug team?
Gundo Phathela: “As the team leader, I hand-picked each team member based on their expertise and assigned work accordingly. I also put together the script for the winning pitch and created an animated pitch for the Africa competition. The solution, called ‘Just for your hour’, was scheduled to roll out in November.”
Ofentse Monkoe: “As the network engineering expert, I contributed towards defining the network KPIs our solution was going to use to confirm low network utilisation. I also built the prototype on Power BI and did the voice-over for the prototype demo.”
Mkhuseli Makhambi: “As the radio network expert, I provided the utilisation data and analysis as our idea was heavily based on low radio usage.”
Oliver Kongolo: “I contributed to the design of the solution from an architecture perspective, as well as the design on the VodaPay UI demo.”
Jared Naidoo: “I provided guidance on how big data can be integrated as part of the solution.”
Jonathan Eastern: “Being from Customer Value Management, I provided all the customer data and revenue figures for building the business case.”
Can you share what you spent your winnings on?
Gundo and Ofentse: “With the loadshedding problem not going away, we spent the winnings on power backup solutions.”
Mkhuseli: “I blew it LOL! Family vacation, clothing, nice times, everything.”
Has the Hackathon opened any doors for your career, and how?
Gundo: “I do a lot of presentations in my day job for Exco, who don’t always remember me, but after the Hackathon, every time I start a presentation I’m greeted with ‘Hi, Mr Hackathon’, which helps because now I can have conversations freely.”
Ofentse: “Exposure to other parts of the organisation and advancing interdomain collaboration.”
What has your experience of the Hackathon been like?
Gundo: “This was my third time entering the Hackathon. It was always just for the vibes and the free goodies. For the 2022 edition, we started preparing early. Ofentse and I would meet on Sundays, looking at how we can build the prototype. Winning the Hackathon is one of my proudest moments.”
Ofentse: “Great platform to network, bring an idea to life, and identify how one can add value in the bigger Vodacom mandate to deliver solutions to our customers.”
What advice would you give to staff participating in the Hackathon for the first time?
Gundo: “Have fun. The Hackathon is a great place to network, so walk around and meet different people. Focus on the pitch, not the prototype.”
Ofentse: “You’ve already won by entering. You have nothing to lose by not entering, except an opportunity to win.”
What advice would you give to someone who has an idea but doesn’t know how to take it further?
Gundo: “Keep pitching and refining your idea even after the Hackathon. It takes time for people to warm up to innovative ideas.”
Ofentse: “Visit the Innovation hub and submit your idea.”
