Improving the Hackathon Experience for African Engineers

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  Payment Options

Inspiration

Majority of software engineers in Africa DO NOT have bank accounts, therefore receiving DevPost prize payments via platforms like Payoneer which requires a bank account, may not be suitable as a method of payment for African developers.

How to Improve the DevPost Hackathon Experience for African Software Engineers

1. Introduce multiple options for prize payment, including via Mobile Money to cater for African developers

Majority of software engineers in Africa DO NOT have bank accounts, therefore receiving DevPost prize payments via platforms like Payoneer which requires a bank account, may not be suitable as a method of payment for African developers.

Introducing multiple payment options for prizes besides Payoneer including Mobile Options like MPesa, and MTN Mobile Money would increase participation by African software engineers in the Devpost hackathons.

2. Extra charges during prize payment processing:

Payoneer for example will charge $15 for any dollar transactions on its platform. Other hidden fees will take the charge to about $30 overall. A bank in Africa (depending on the country) will charge an extra $15 dollars per deposit from Payoneer. So a developer who won $100 dollars will end up receiving about $51 in their bank account (about half of their winning) at withdrawal from the bank. These extra charges do not occur via Mobile Money transactions.

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