48-Hour Dev-A-Thon
& Startup Gate

Africa's AI innovation ecosystem initiative — where startups are born, MVPs are built, and futures are funded

This is NOT a competition. The 48-Hour Dev-A-Thon is an AI innovation ecosystem development initiative. Every participant who builds a qualifying MVP is guaranteed a Startup Gate slot and investor access. There are no losers — only founders.

What is the
Dev-A-Thon?

The 48-Hour Dev-A-Thon is an AI-powered innovation ecosystem initiative designed with one purpose: to birth startups.

Unlike a traditional hackathon, the Dev-A-Thon is not about winning a prize — it is about building a real, working Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that solves a genuine African market problem. Over 48 continuous hours, teams of innovators, developers, designers, and domain experts come together to ideate, prototype, and deploy functional technology solutions.

At the end of 48 hours, every team that successfully demonstrates a qualifying MVP is guaranteed:

A slot at the Startup Gate — TechTrinity Africa's accelerator and investor showcase
Direct access to our curated VC investment network
A Cloud Credits Pack to continue building after the event
Media coverage in Cyberspace Africa Magazine and partner publications
Enrolment in the TechTrinity Mentorship Programme

The philosophy: In the African tech ecosystem, building is hard enough. The Dev-A-Thon removes the "winner-takes-all" mindset and replaces it with a "builders' ecosystem" model — where the act of building and shipping is itself the achievement, and the reward is structured to give every qualifying team the fuel to grow.

Hour 0

Kickoff & Team Formation

Problem statements released, teams finalised, mentors assigned

Hours 1–12

Ideation & Architecture

Problem validation, solution design, technical stack decision, wireframing

Hours 12–36

Build & MVP Development

Core feature development, AI integration, testing, iteration with mentor check-ins

Hours 36–46

Polish & Pitch Prep

UI refinement, demo preparation, pitch deck creation, investor narrative

Hour 48

🚀 Startup Gate — MVP Presentations

All qualifying teams present to investors, advisors, and the TechTrinity community. Every team with a qualifying MVP earns their Startup Gate slot.

Startup Gate
Value Package

Every qualifying Dev-A-Thon team receives all five of these — guaranteed

🚀

Startup Gate Accelerator Slots (10)

Ten coveted positions in TechTrinity Africa's flagship accelerator programme, providing structured mentorship, resources, and the network required to scale across Africa.

💼

VC Investment Access

Direct, curated introductions to our network of venture capital firms, angel investors, and family offices actively seeking to deploy capital into African tech startups.

☁️

Cloud Credits Pack

Significant cloud infrastructure credits from leading providers — so the infrastructure costs of going from MVP to product never stop your momentum.

📣

Media Coverage

Featured coverage in Cyberspace Africa Magazine (TechTrinity's official media partner) and across our social media and partner publication network reaching thousands of tech stakeholders.

🎓

Mentorship Programme

Post-event enrolment in TechTrinity's structured mentorship programme — pairing your startup with experienced operators, investors, and industry leaders for ongoing guidance.

Participation Criteria

Two Ways to Apply

  • Solo — Domain Expert — a specialist in health, agriculture, finance, law, education and more who submits a real problem from their field for a team to build with AI
  • Domain expert problems must be AI-solvable (software only — no complex hardware) and built for the African market
  • Pre-formed Team — an innovation hub, innovation team or group of practitioners (3–5 members) ready to build a live AI MVP
  • Each team member submits a biography, a previous project & their role, portfolio, LinkedIn and GitHub

Team Rules & What You Bring

  • Minimum 3 members · Maximum 5 members per team
  • Every team must include a Product Designer / UI-UX
  • Every team must include a Software Developer
  • Every team must include a Software Engineer
  • Innovation hubs and practitioner groups may enter as a pre-formed team
  • Laptop and development tools for each member
  • A passion for solving African problems with technology
  • 48 hours of focus, energy, and commitment

MVP Qualifying Criteria

  • Working, demonstrable software product
  • Addresses a clearly defined African market problem
  • Incorporates AI/ML or emerging technology meaningfully
  • Has a viable business model (even if early-stage)
  • Can be demoed live at Hour 48 presentation
  • Team can articulate a path to market

Build Africa's Next
Great Startup in 48 Hours

Registration for the Dev-A-Thon opens soon. Join the waitlist to be notified when applications open and receive early-access information.

Dev-A-Thon runs October 21 (09:00) — October 22 (09:00) · Victoria Island, Lagos