Cortex Hub has unveiled MCP Hackathon Africa 2025, an initiative designed to weave African languages, cultures and development priorities into the foundations of artificial intelligence.
The eight-week programme, running from September to November across more than 40 cities, will bring together developers, researchers, start-ups and students to build tools using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an emerging open standard that helps applications feed structured locally relevant information into large language models.
The hackathon will culminate in a continental showcase in Cape Town on 11–12 November, where finalists will pitch to investors, incubators and global technology leaders.
Organisers say the event marks a strategic push to ensure Africa is not only a consumer of artificial intelligence but also a contributor to its core standards. By building MCP servers embedded with African languages, legal frameworks and economic priorities, participants will strengthen the continent’s digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on closed, foreign systems.
“The Model Context Protocol is Africa’s opportunity to move from being consumers of AI to creators of the standards that govern it,” said Andile Ngcaba, patron of Cortex Hub. “By coding MCP servers for our towns and cities, participants will be embedding African contexts, cultures and priorities into the very fabric of AI’s evolution.”
A Continental Effort
Local hubs will be active across Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius), West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal), Central Africa (Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo), East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia) and North Africa (Morocco, Egypt).
Participants will have access to bootcamps, mentorship, peer collaboration and technical resources such as starter code and documentation. Innovation tracks will focus on sectors where AI can deliver immediate impact, including telecommunications, fintech, agriculture, logistics and public services.
Use cases range from providing smallholder farmers with real-time data to reinforcing secure payment systems to enabling smoother cross-border trade.
The prize pool totals $9,500, with $5,000 awarded to the best overall solution, $3,500 for outstanding innovation and $1,000 for execution excellence. Beyond cash prizes, winners will gain visibility at AfricaCom, one of the continent’s largest technology gatherings, where they will present to investors and industry stakeholders.
The initiative is backed by a roster of technology partners including TESPOK, Seacom, Mauritius Telecom, CSquared, Solcon Capital and Datacentrix. Their involvement signals growing industry consensus that Africa must play a central role in shaping the trajectory of artificial intelligence.
Why It Matters
For entrepreneurs, the MCP Hackathon offers more than competition. It is an entry point into a wider conversation about how Africa positions itself in the age of Artificial General Intelligence. The emphasis on open standards and local context means participants are not just coding applications, they are influencing the frameworks that could govern global AI adoption.
By embedding African perspectives into AI infrastructure, Cortex Hub and its partners are betting on a future where the continent is not left behind, but instead helps define the rules of the game.
