Codefest Africa plans to turn hackathons into a year-round innovation pipeline

Codefest Africa, the organisation behind a 2025 hackathon that drew more than 5,000 participants, wants to turn one-off competitions into a year-round pipeline linking businesses with innovators. The aim is to stop promising ideas from fading once an event ends.

The plan will be showcased at Lagos Innovate 2026, an initiative powered by the group and hosted by Lagos State University (LASU), with Technext as the event’s media partner.

Its Innovation Expo and Awards, set for November 19, will bring together companies, government institutions, universities, investors, technology communities and innovators. Participants are expected to showcase solutions and explore collaborations.

Why are hackathons not enough?

The organisation began in 2017 with coding initiatives, bootcamps and technology competitions. It later added STEM education for younger learners, along with hackathons that bring developers, designers and researchers together to tackle real-world problems.

According to the group, its 2025 hackathon had 92 teams, a milestone it said was highlighted in Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy impact report.

Even so, it argues that competitions alone cannot sustain innovation. Teams disperse once an event closes, and promising solutions often lose momentum before they reach real users.

The group also pointed to a gap between training and opportunity. Graduates trained to build technology, it noted, often end up doing administrative work instead. That gap, it said, is what its next phase is meant to close.

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Codefest Africa reveals how the new model would work

Under the proposal, companies would publish challenges as they arise rather than waiting for a scheduled competition. Innovators could then identify those problems, collaborate and develop solutions, with promising ones moving towards testing and real-world application.

The organisation described the approach as a more consistent link between businesses seeking solutions and people with the technical skills to build them. It did not give a launch date for the platform or say how it would be funded.

Codefest described the ambition as going beyond successful events to a pipeline where talent consistently meets real-world needs.

What does Lagos Innovate add?

For the group, the event is a test of the collaboration it wants to encourage: businesses presenting challenges, innovators building answers and institutions creating room for ideas to grow.

Technext’s role as a media partner is to extend coverage beyond the venue, spotlighting emerging ideas, innovators and the communities behind them.

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Delivering the model will take more than one organisation, the group stressed. Businesses, institutions, universities and technology communities would all need to contribute challenges, people or resources.

Companies and institutions are being invited to submit challenges that innovators can work on, as the organisation seeks a system where innovation continues beyond individual events.