Zindi UmojaHack Africa 2022 will feature over 11,000 machine learning solutions
In March 2022, Zindi, the largest community of data scientists in Africa and the first platform for data science competitions, hosted its third annual UmojaHack competition, which was the first of its kind.
Inter-university hackathon participants came from 325 universities in 30 African countries, totaling over 1,200 participants from the event. A total of more than 11,000 machine learning solutions to real-world problems were delivered by participants during the competition.
The competition took place on the 19th and 20th of March. Celina Lee, the CEO of Zindi, made the following statement:
It has been a wonderful experience, and we are extremely pleased with the outcome. A lasting impression was left on the African data science community and on all of our participants as a result of UmojaHack Africa 2022, thanks to the excitement and engagement of communities across Africa, the insights and wisdom shared by our incredible speakers, and the incredible support provided by our sponsors.
Celina Lee, CEO of Zindi
Regarding competition, the CEO stated that Zindi's mission is to make artificial intelligence (AI) accessible to all Africans, which is why the company's machine learning solutions and data science capabilities are being developed.
Despite the fact that we are working to establish the world's largest professional data science network, it is important to remember why we are doing what we are doing. With the help of this annual hackathon and our upcoming career day, we hope to empower communities and users throughout Africa to improve their careers and lives as a result of their use of Zindi.
According to Yacine Barro Bourgault, Enablement Lead at Microsoft Africa Transformation Office, their primary goal is to empower youths as they embark on their journey of digital skill development. He admired the vigor and enthusiasm of the students who were still in their teens.
In order for Africa to achieve long-term success, it is critical that the continent's digital skills gap be closed. Throughout the continent, technology will be a critical enabler of transformation, which will take place over the next decade. This is why Microsoft has committed to this journey as a partner.
About Zindi
Through its membership of more than 40,000 people, Zindi has grown to become one of the largest data science communities in Africa. Primary concerns include the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to urgent problems. Data scientists can also connect with one another, learn from one another, and grow as a result of the platform.
Their mission is to transform Africa as a continent while also showcasing African talent around the world.
It will also host a data sector career day next month for sponsors, clients, partners, and other companies in order to connect them with Africa's data talent that was identified through the UmojaHack contest.
With this event, recruiters and business leaders will have the opportunity to meet with students in a more informal setting. As part of this, Zindi will provide exclusive access to its curated data science profile database to qualified candidates.
These two events are sponsored by a variety of companies, including Microsoft, Absa, Instadeep, DeepMind, NVIDIA, H2O.ai, and the Explore Data Science Academy.
UmojaHack Africa Event
In addition to Dan Zigmond of Apple, Karim Beguir of InstaDeep, Kate Kallot of NVIDIA, Gavin Cope of Absa, Bayo Adekanbi of DSN, and Moustapha Cisse of Google AI Research, the keynote address was delivered by an inspiring group of speakers from the African and global data sectors.
In their remarks, these speakers discussed and demonstrated how data science and machine learning can be applied in the real world, and they concluded with words of encouragement and advice for the young students in the audience.
With his high-energy performance, Sam Masikini (Zindi ambassador for Malawi and self-proclaimed artificial intelligence innovator) kept the event moving forward and the crowds entertained throughout the entire event.
Watch the videos from the weekend's events on Zindi's YouTube channel right now!
Participants from 30 countries competed for the top spot on the Zindi leaderboard during the hackathon challenge, which was divided into three levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
Participants in the beginner category were required to organize faults generated by air quality sensors in order to complete the challenge. Khaireddine Medhioub of Tunisia finished third, Vincent Njonge of Kenya finished second, and Maryam Afolabi of Nigeria finished first. Khaireddine Medhioub finished third, Vincent Njonge of Kenya finished second, and Maryam Afolabi of Nigeria finished first.
It was necessary for teams to forecast the value of future short-term insurance claims when competing in the intermediate category, which was heavily populated by Nigerian students. Eniola Olaleye, Saheed Azeez, and Joseph Olaide, all of Nigeria, came in third place. Winners Lawrence Moruye of Senegal won the race ahead of Nigerians Victor Olumide, Paul Okewunmi and Oluwadunsin Fajemila, who finished second and third respectively.
Students were required to predict how eight commercial anti-venoms would react to venom from a variety of snakes in the final and most difficult category of the competition. Bruintjies finished third in this category, while Mokhtar Mami and Azer Ksouri of Tunisia took second and first place, respectively, in the same category.
Each country's winning student was also awarded a prize, and Zindi presented prizes totaling USD 10,000 to the top three finishers in each category.
