Access Youth Tech Forge 2026
Africa's Most Ambitious Hackathon
₦10M in prizes, mentorship from senior engineers and industry leaders, and a chance to bring your ideas to life.
Access Towers, Lagos
In person venue + Virtual
17 - 35 yrs
Eligibility
Nov 9th - 11th
Hackathon Dates
72 Hours
Build Time
Oct 30th
Application Deadline
Why join Access Youth Tech Forge?
Build with purpose
Develop solutions to problems affecting millions of Africans and identify commercially viable opportunities in markets that remain underserved.
Win substantial prizes
Compete for a ₦10 million prize pool, with additional seed funding for selected ideas. Each of the top 10 teams will also receive US$25,000 worth of acceleration support to turn their solution into a market-ready startup
Expert mentorship
Build alongside senior engineers, product leaders and founders throughout the three days, with technical guidance and sandbox environment available to every team.
Present to decision makers
The top 10 finalist teams present to top management, investors and ecosystem leaders, with a structured pathway into pilot or accelerator engagement after the event.
Eligibility
Who is this for?
Applications are open to technical builders across Africa aged 17 to 35 with ideas that are new, commercially viable and built to scale.
- Software engineers (Frontend, Backend etc)
- Designers (UI, UX, product)
- Data scientists & machine learning engineers
- Product managers & Founders
- Students and recent graduates.
Challenge theme
Choose your challenge theme
Select a theme in your application. Each covers a broad commercial area where opportunity across African markets remains open, and what you build within it is entirely yours to define.
Payments and Financial Infrastructure
This theme covers solutions that change how money moves, settles or is financed across Africa.
Sustainability and Climate-Linked Finance
This theme focuses on the emerging market that turns measurable climate action into commercial value.
Creative Technology
This theme covers technology that transforms how creative work is created, produced, protected, distributed, experienced and monetised across Africa.
Hackathon timeline
From Application to Demo Day
Application Deadline
30 Oct 2026
Submit your application in about 10 to 15 minutes.
Get Reviewed
4th Nov 2026
Our team reads every application. You will hear back by 4th Nov 2026.
Build for 72 Hours
9th - 11 Nov 2026
Hack in person at Access Tower, Lagos, or join virtually.
Demo Day
13th Nov 2026
Pitch your solution to expert judges and top industry leaders, and compete for the prizes
FAQs
