Ummah Connect

The Logic Page of the Application
Home Page
Events Page
Connect Page, where you accept requests and see your friends
connect page (below)
Communities Page
Profile Page
Profile Page (below)
About Page
Terms and Conditions
Settings Page
Settings Page (below)
Messages Tab (in dark mode)
Notifications Tab (in dark mode)

Team TechGirlies Rida Fathima • Noor • Zainab • Mariam We are TechGirlies, a team passionate about using technology to solve real community problems. Together, we built UmmahConnect to make finding and connecting with Muslim communities easier.

Inspiration

As a team, we wanted to solve a real problem faced by community organizations. After speaking with vendors, sponsors, community members, and organizations like ISNA Canada, we noticed a common issue: many Muslims, especially newcomers, don't know about events happening around them or where to find Muslim communities and make new connections.

That inspired us to build UmmahConnect — one place to discover events, communities, and people with similar interests.

What it does

UmmahConnect helps Muslims find events, communities, and people they would actually be interested in. When users sign up, they create a profile with their location, interests, age group, gender, and goals. The app uses this information to recommend relevant events and communities.

Users can discover nearby events, join communities based on their interests, see which events their friends are attending, connect with people with similar interests, and chat with their connections.

For event organizers and Muslim organizations, UmmahConnect provides a way to share events with the right audience instead of relying only on Instagram, WhatsApp, or word of mouth.

This makes UmmahConnect a single place to go from “I want to get involved” to actually finding an event, community, or person to connect with.

How we built it

We designed UmmahConnect for both sides of the problem: the people looking for community and the organizations trying to reach them.

We built a functional platform with user profiles, personalized event discovery, communities, connections, and chat. We focused on keeping the experience simple so users can quickly find what is relevant to them.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was making the platform specifically for the Muslim community without turning it into another general social media app. We also considered gender preferences, privacy, accessibility, and different community needs so users can connect in ways they are comfortable with.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we turned our idea into a working application during the hackathon. Users can discover events, find communities, connect with others through shared interests, and communicate through chat. We are especially proud that our solution addresses the needs of both community members and event organizers.

What we learned

We learned how important teamwork and different perspectives are when solving a community problem. Because our team comes from different backgrounds and experiences, we were able to think about needs that one person might have missed. We also learned to think beyond the main user journey and consider accessibility, privacy, and edge cases.

What's next for UmmahConnect

Our next step is to work directly with mosques, Muslim organizations, MSAs, event organizers, and community partners to bring more verified events and communities onto the platform. We also want to improve personalization, accessibility, safety, and scalability so UmmahConnect can support more communities and locations.

Our long-term goal is simple: when someone is new to a city or looking for a Muslim community, they shouldn't have to wonder where to start. UmmahConnect should help them find it.