Please describe your proposed solution

Our proposed solution is an Ignite culminating in a two day Hackathon IRL event. We believe this will act as a great way for our Adafro Labs community members and other software developers to showcase their creations. We believe this will motivate and inspire other attending developers to learn the necessary programming languages & build on Cardano. We will be taking on over 100 participants who will then be grouped in order to participate in the hackathon after the training.

We would like this Hackathon to really drive awareness amongst developers and that they can build something on Cardano in short period of time.

The Theme for the Hackathon is: First principles - where the developers will not be restricted on what to build but what matters is the demonstration of how one can build something on Cardano with only 3 months of preparation.

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

This solution addresses the challenge in a number of ways;

1. The hackathon aims to reach out to developers actively working on projects in other blockchain protocols.
2. With the emergence of eth,celo,polkadot and filecoin in Uganda Adafro labs constantly has to compete with these protocols to attract developers.
3. This Hackathon is our way of onboarding developers into the Cardano ecosystem seamlessly
4. With our current lab space acting as a good collaborative structure for developers to prepare for this Hackathon.Through this preparation we are betting on the potential of coming up with a really great open source project that would be beneficial to the developers in africa and the world at large.
5. Winning Teams will get prize money in order for them to carry on building their projectd on Cardano.
6. We aim to have developers land internships in various cardano ecosystem companies.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

We successfully executed the last project we secured Catalyst funding for.

<https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/8/f8-scale-up-cardanos-community-hubs/uganda-business-and-technical-hub>

An Experienced and renowned blockchain advocate is part of our team. He has organized many blockchain hackathons including the recently concluded DevFest. <https://devfestkampala.com/>

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: 1: Training &amp; Hackathon format for the 3 months, Evaluation Criteria, Developer Team registration,Open regular attendance registration, LOGISTICS OF THE HACKATHON i.e Venue, Internet, Prizes, Media Coverage &amp; Marketing materials, Schedule for the D day, Judge selection, Staff, Sponsors and Partners

Milestone 2: Promotion of the event

• One month before - Get branded materials in order, Meal Catering, Staff allocation

Milestone 3: 1. One week before - Confirm with all service providers, send out email reminders to participants, close regular attendance registration, final ordering for branded materials,

Final Milestone: Main goal: To hold a successful training program and the subsequent Hackathon event and have a stronger developer community which will continue to grow the ecosystem .

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Percy Abaho Muhirwa - Technologist/Community Relations

Percy is a well established systems administrator and commmunity relations manager. He is passionate about cardano community growth and training devs. He will be the lead coordinator of all operations and activities in addition to running the logistics and procurement of all equipment and other needed items.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/percy-a-muhirwa-a5aba7149/

David Lumala - CTO/Developer Advocate

Eng.David Lumala as popularly known is a Ugandan Blockchain software Architect and Engineer , Tech Event Speaker and organiser. He is equipped with over 4 years of active web 3.0 experience across a wide variety of chains and protocols . He is a DeFi guru and crypto luminary, an avid educator with a keen eye on the cardano Web 3.0 vision. He is active on many major Web 3.0 Social forums and previously a developer advocate who did great work in training and inspiring web 3.0 developers across several african Countries including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia ,Tanzania and his native Uganda. He is so bullish on the cardano ecosystem and he will be the main trainer in the course of this program. He is a consultant for many public and private corporate entities in the region on blockchain and other 4IR technologies. He holds an immensely huge linkedIn following at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eng-david-lumala-2aa6a2167/ and can be reached out on telegram @DLumala , github at github.com/RealLumala and twitter @Realdavidlumala . He is the organizer of the annual Blockchain developer festival in the East African Region (www.devfestkampala.com) which is the biggest Web 3.0 developers event in the region.

Abraham Kakooza - Infrastructure Engineer

Prominent for his open source contributions, Kakooza is a renown system engineer and blockchain nerd. He alongside David will be charged with the training activities and other technical operations. He is also the project dev rel.Having him onboard excites me because he comes with vast experience from the finance and economics world, a field which is so connected to blockchains and web 3.0 at large.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kakoozajerry/

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Preparations &amp; Venue and Logistics: 17027 ada

• Venue rental: 8108 ada
• Audio-visual equipment: 4054 ada
• Catering services: 4054 ada
• Signage and banners: 811 ada

Prizes and Incentives: 14189 ada

• Cash prizes for winners: 8108 ada
• Gift cards or vouchers: 4054 ada
• Trophies or medals: 2027 ada

Technical Support : 8513 ada

• Technical staff for setup: 4054 ada
• IT support during the event: 3243 ada
• Emergency technical support: 1216 ada

Promotion and Marketing: 5676 ada

• Online advertising: 2703 ada
• Printing promotional materials: 1622 ada
• Social media promotion: 1351 ada

Hackathon Materials : 5676 ada

• T-shirts &amp; merchandise: 2703 ada
• Printed materials and handouts: 1351 ada
• Swag bags for participants: 1622 ada

Judges and Speakers :2854 ada

• Honorarium for judges: 2162 ada
• Speaker fees or honorarium: 676 ada

Contingency Fund : 2838 ada

• Reserved for unforeseen expenses or adjustments.

Emurgo Academy; To provide technical guidance to the participants of the Hackathon and how best to judge the participants on a more technical standpoint.

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

• The hackathon serves as a platform to expand the Cardano community, attracting developers, enthusiasts, and potential collaborators.
• The allocated funds strategically emphasize incentivizing innovation, showcasing the Cardano ecosystem's capabilities and fostering the development of practical applications.
• The investment in marketing, branding, and materials contributes to Cardano's brand visibility, reinforcing its position in the blockchain space.
• A Successful hackathon can lead to ongoing projects, collaborations, and sustained interest, creating a lasting positive impact on the Cardano ecosystem