NAIROBI, Kenya– The Cortex Hub has launched the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Hackathon Africa 2025, an ambitious contest aimed at embedding Africa’s culture, languages, and priorities into the fast-moving world of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The competition, which will unfold across more than 40 African cities from September to November, invites startups, students, researchers, and developers to design innovations using MCP, an emerging open framework that enables applications to feed structured, locally relevant data into large language models.
Finalists will gather in Cape Town on November 11–12 for a continental showcase before global technology leaders, investors, and incubators.
The hackathon arrives at a time when governments and regional bodies, including the African Union, have identified AI as a pillar of economic transformation, yet warned against overreliance on foreign systems that overlook African realities.
Organizers say that by embedding African languages, legal structures, and development priorities into MCP servers, the initiative will strengthen digital sovereignty and lessen dependence on proprietary platforms.
Hubs across East, West, Central, Southern, and North Africa will host participants, offering mentorship, technical toolkits, and peer collaboration. Innovation tracks cover vital sectors such as telecommunications, agriculture, fintech, logistics, and public services,fields seen as central to Africa’s growth.
A total prize pool of $9,500 will be awarded, with $5,000 set aside for the top project, $3,500 for outstanding innovation, and $1,000 for execution excellence.
Winners will also be profiled at AfricaCom, the continent’s flagship technology gathering.
Industry leaders have praised the initiative.
Datacentrix CEO Ahmed Mohamed said MCP is “the glue that transforms abstract algorithms into situated intelligence.” Seacom’s Alpheus Mangale noted that participation is about “forging cognitive infrastructure that will bind real-time intelligence to the lived experience of our cities.”
Mauritius Telecom’s Veemal Gungadin described it as “a call to the younger generation to write the next chapter of AI’s story.” CSquared’s Ian Paterson remarked, “The era of AI Agents, Agentic AI, and Super Agents has arrived.”
Solcon Capital’s Pramod Venkatesh argued that Africa must build sovereign AI to safeguard “technological independence, security, and cultural relevance.”
Andile Ngcaba, Patron of The Cortex Hub, added: “The Model Context Protocol is Africa’s opportunity to move from being consumers of AI to creators of the standards that govern it.”
TESPOK CEO Fiona Asonga highlighted the event’s regional importance, saying: “This hackathon provides a great opportunity for the youth of Kenya and East Africa to test their skills in Artificial Intelligence, such as building AI Agents, Agentic AI, and MCPs.”
With backing from TESPOK, Seacom, Mauritius Telecom, CSquared, Solcon Capital, and Datacentrix, the hackathon reflects growing private sector momentum to ensure Africa has a central role in defining the future of AI.
