The WhatsApp Cloud API with templates, interactive buttons and lists, media, and a visual flow builder that runs conversations without code.
By Momo Telecommunications · The annual hackathon
MobiThon
Build. Innovate. Win.
A hackathon for anyone with an idea worth building. Individuals, developers, startups, businesses and companies build a real solution on Momo Business — and the best of them share TZS 7 million.
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20 December 2026 · Millennium Tower, Dar es Salaam · Finals and the Momo Business launch
TZS 25,000
Entry fee
400
Competitor seats left
Competitors pay TZS 25,000 per entry, taken from your Momo Business wallet when you register. It holds one of 400 seats in the hall. Registration happens inside your Momo Business workspace. If you do not have one yet, creating it is free and takes a minute.
Total prizes TZS 7,000,000
TZS 3,000,000
Best Startup
TZS 2,500,000
First place
TZS 1,000,000
Second place
TZS 500,000
Third place
The top three placements are open to individuals, startups, businesses and companies alike — you are not judged against a different bar because of what you are.
- No company needed
- No code needed
- The hall seats 500 — 400 competitors and 100 for exhibitors, sponsors, banks and partners.
- Runs every year
MobiThon is open to anyone with an idea or a solution they want to build using Momo Business. You enter as whatever you already are.
What you build with
A real platform, not a sandbox
Your MobiThon workspace is the same product our paying customers run their businesses on. Nothing is stubbed, nothing expires at the end of the weekend, and whatever you build keeps working after the judging.
Voice and calls
Cloud numbers, IVR call flows, routing rules, ring groups, recordings and transcripts. Build something that answers a real phone line.
AI agents
Agents that hold a conversation on a call or in a chat, call your own tools, read a knowledge base, and hand off to a person when they should.
Data tables
Your own tables with typed fields, indexes, state machines and reports. Flows and IVRs read and write the same rows.
Payments
Ask a customer to pay from inside a flow or a call, and follow the payment through to settled.
APIs and MCP
A REST API, webhooks, and an MCP server so ChatGPT or Claude can drive your build directly.
Every entrant gets a free workspace. Usage during the build period is on us, within fair-use limits we publish to registered entrants.
Somewhere to start
Six problems worth solving
You are not required to pick one of these. They are here because "build anything" is the hardest brief there is, and because every one of them is a real request we have had from a Tanzanian business.
A shop that takes orders on WhatsApp
Catalogue, cart, delivery address by pin, payment request, and a daily stock reconciliation the owner actually trusts.
A clinic line that books itself
An IVR that finds the caller, offers the next free slot, writes the booking to a table, and sends the reminder the day before.
Extension advice by voice
A Kiswahili voice agent that answers crop questions from a knowledge base and escalates the ones it cannot.
Delivery status without a call centre
Drivers update by SMS, customers ask on WhatsApp, and nobody phones the office to ask where a parcel is.
A school that reaches every parent
Fees, attendance and results out over SMS and WhatsApp in the language each parent reads, with replies landing in one inbox.
Collections that do not need a person
A schedule that calls or messages on a rhythm, takes the payment in the conversation, and stops the moment it settles.
How it runs
Five phases
Dates for each phase are confirmed to registered entrants by email. The finals date is fixed.
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01
Register
Sign in to Momo Business and submit your entry: who you are, and what you intend to build. You can change the idea later — we ask now so we can help you early.
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02
Build
You build in your own workspace, at your own pace. Our support desk is open to entrants throughout, and the documentation and API reference are public.
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03
Submit
A working demo anybody can try, and a short write-up: the problem, who has it, what you built, and what you would do next.
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04
Judging
Every entry is reviewed against the published criteria. Shortlisted entrants are told in writing, with the reasons.
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05
Finals
Shortlisted entrants present in person. Winners are announced the same day, on stage.
How entries are judged
Five things we score
Published up front, on purpose. You should not have to guess what we are looking for, and a judge should not be able to invent a reason afterwards.
Does it solve a real problem
Somebody specific has this problem today and would use this tomorrow. The strongest entries come from people who live with the problem themselves.
Does it actually work
A demo a judge can run, end to end, without you sitting next to it. Working and small beats ambitious and broken.
How well it uses the platform
Not how many features you touched — how sensibly you used the ones you did.
Can it survive contact with users
What happens on a bad input, a closed WhatsApp window, a failed payment, a caller who says something unexpected.
How you explain it
A clear demo and a straight answer to "who is this for". You will present in front of a room; this is practice.
The Best Startup award is judged on the same five, plus the business behind the product: who is on the team, who is already paying or using it, and where it goes next.
What you submit
Four things, nothing more
A working demo
A number to call, a WhatsApp line to message, or a link to open. It must run without you.
A write-up
Half a page. The problem, who has it, what you built, what is not finished yet.
A two-minute video
Optional but it helps. Screen recording is fine; production value is not scored.
Your workspace
Already linked, because you registered from inside it. Judges see what you built, not a copy of it.
Finals day
Millennium Tower, Dar es Salaam
The finals share a stage with the official launch of the Momo Business platform, which means the room is fuller than a hackathon final usually is.
You present
A short demo and questions from the judges, in front of the room. Kiswahili or English — whichever you are stronger in.
The room
Developers, founders, exhibiting startups, partners and press. The people who integrate with and build on what you make.
The exhibition
Five startups and technology companies show their products alongside the competition.
Winners announced
On the day, on stage. No waiting for an email.
Rules and eligibility
The short version
- Open to anyone in Tanzania — individuals, teams, startups, businesses and companies. No registration certificate is required to compete for the top three placements.
- One workspace may enter more than one idea. Register each separately so each is judged on its own terms.
- Your entry must run on Momo Business. Using other services alongside it is fine and expected.
- Work started before MobiThon is allowed, provided the version you present runs on Momo Business and you can show what you did for the competition.
- You keep everything you build. We claim no ownership of your code, your product or your customers.
- We may show your demo and your name when we write about MobiThon. Tell us if you would rather we did not.
- Entries that misuse the platform — spam, unsolicited messaging, anything that would get a real account suspended — are disqualified without appeal.
- Momo Telecommunications staff and their immediate families may not compete for prizes.
- Prizes are paid in Tanzanian shillings, after the finals, to the registered entrant.
Questions
Before you register
What does it cost to enter?
TZS 25,000 per entry, taken from your Momo Business wallet when you register. That holds one of the 400 competitor seats in the hall. Creating the workspace you build in is free, and so is the platform usage during the build period. Applying for an exhibitor stand or a sponsorship costs nothing at all.
Do I need to be a registered company?
No. Individuals and informal teams compete for the same top three placements as companies. Only the Best Startup award assumes a startup.
Do I have to be a developer?
No. If you can describe and demonstrate a solution built with Momo Business, you can enter. Several of our tools need no code at all.
Can I enter with something I have already built?
Yes, as long as the version you present runs on Momo Business and you can show what you did for MobiThon.
Can a team enter more than one idea?
Register each idea separately so it is judged on its own terms.
Where do I register?
Inside your Momo Business workspace. The button on this page signs you in and takes you straight to the entry form.
What does the free workspace include?
The full product. Voice, WhatsApp, SMS, AI agents, flows, data tables and the APIs. Usage during the build period is on us within fair-use limits, which we send to every registered entrant.
Can I use other services alongside Momo Business?
Yes. Your entry has to run on Momo Business; what else it talks to is your business.
How big can a team be?
Up to fifty people on paper, but the entries that win are usually two or three. Prizes are paid to the registered entrant, who splits them however the team agreed.
Do I present in English?
Kiswahili or English, whichever you are stronger in. Judges follow both.
Who owns what I build?
You do. We take no ownership of your code, your product or your customers.
Why is there a fee at all?
The hall seats 500 and the competition floor is 400 of those. The fee is what keeps a seat held by somebody who intends to use it, and it is the same for an individual as for a company. It is not a revenue line.
What if the seats sell out?
Then they are gone, and we say so on the page rather than taking money for a waiting list. MobiThon runs every year — the next edition opens after this one.
Can I get a refund?
Talk to us. If you registered and genuinely cannot take part, write to us with your reference before the build period closes.
What happens after MobiThon?
Your workspace stays. So does everything in it. Whether you carry on is up to you, and several entries will be running businesses by the next edition.
Build. Innovate. Win.
Register for MobiThon
Registration happens inside your Momo Business workspace. If you do not have one yet, creating it is free and takes a minute.