Physical Address
4 Elgon Terrace, Kololo, Kampala, Uganda
The MCP Hackathon Africa 2025, spearheaded by The Cortex Hub, is a continent-wide initiative running from September through November 2025. It aims to anchor Africa’s unique languages, culture, and development priorities into the heart of artificial intelligence through the emerging open standard known as the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
What Is MCP & Why It Matters
MCP is being positioned as a framework for delivering structured, context-aware data into AI systems. It ensures that applications have access to locally relevant information—such as legal norms, economic patterns, and linguistic diversity—so AI doesn’t just mirror global models but reflects African realities.
Participants will build MCP servers and apps that integrate this local data, powering applications that better understand and serve communities in Africa.
Scope & Participation
The hackathon spans 40+ cities across Southern, West, East, Central, and North Africa. Countries include South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, DRC, Uganda and more. Local hubs will host developers, students, researchers, and startups.
Tracks cover fintech, telecommunications, agriculture, logistics, public services, among others, all focused on embedding African voices and contexts into AI systems.
What’s On Offer
Participants will access bootcamps, mentorships, technical resources (starter code, MCP documentation), and collaborative network opportunities. The climax will be a contest in Cape Town on 11-12 November 2025, showcasing finalists to investors, incubators, and global tech leaders.
A prize pool of US$9,500 is up for grabs. Among these, the grand prize winners will receive $5,000
Bottom Line
The MCP Hackathon Africa 2025 represents more than a contest—it’s a push toward digital sovereignty, where local languages, culture, and development needs are embedded into the AI systems that Africans use. By moving from digital consumers to creators of foundational AI infrastructure, this initiative could help shape an AI ecosystem that’s both globally relevant and locally grounded.
