Build for Africa. Hack. Build. Ship.
Build useful products on eSMS Africa's SMS, OTP, Links and Email APIs - and reach users in any of the continent's 54 countries through a single integration. For developers, students, startups and engineering communities.
Build for Africa Hackathon 2026
Hack. Build. Ship. One integration, 54 countries.
Useful products, built on African infrastructure
eSMS Africa gives you REST APIs, SMPP, a full sandbox and official SDKs. Here are a few directions - the best ideas are the ones we haven't thought of yet.
Fintech notifications
Transaction alerts, balance updates and payment confirmations that reach customers instantly across borders.
School communication
Parent-teacher messaging, attendance alerts and fee reminders for schools and universities.
Healthcare reminders
Appointment reminders, medication nudges and clinic follow-ups that reduce no-shows.
Emergency & community alerts
Fast, reliable notification tools for communities, NGOs and public services.
E-commerce updates
Order confirmations, delivery tracking and abandoned-cart nudges over SMS.
Developer tools
CLIs, libraries and integrations that make messaging easier for other builders.
AI agents over SMS
Assistants that talk to users through plain SMS - no smartphone or data required.
Multi-country apps
One integration that communicates with users in several African markets at once.
Build without spending a cent
Every account comes with a sandbox. Use an esms_test_ key to test requests, responses and delivery webhooks end to end - without sending a single real SMS or using any balance.
- Real API responses and simulated delivery reports.
- Test OTP flows with a fixed code that always verifies.
- Magic numbers to simulate failures and edge cases.
- Flip to a live key and go to production - same code.
curl -X POST https://sms.esmsafrica.io/api/messages/send \
-H "Authorization: Bearer esms_test_..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"to":"+254712345678","text":"Hello Africa"}'
# → { "id": "msg_...", "status": "submitted",
# "environment": "test", "cost": 0 }
# No real SMS. No balance used. Same shape as live.From idea to demo in five steps
Register
Create your free developer account and grab an API key. Solo or in a team of up to four.
Build
Use eSMS Africa APIs and SDKs. Test everything free in the sandbox - no real SMS, no balance used.
Submit
Push your project to a public repo and submit it - repo, demo video and a working sandbox demo - before the deadline.
Demo
Shortlisted teams present their projects live to the judges.
Win
Prizes, recognition and infrastructure credits - plus opportunities to keep building with us.
Win cash, credits and a spotlight
1st Place
Cash prize + infrastructure credits + a featured showcase.
2nd Place
Cash prize + infrastructure credits.
3rd Place
Cash prize + infrastructure credits.
You don't have to wait for a hackathon
Permanent challenges you can take on any time. Build one, share it, and get on our radar for the next event.
Build something that works across Africa
One integration reaching users in multiple African countries.
Ship an OTP flow in under an hour
Passwordless or 2FA login using eSMS Verify.
Notify smarter
An event-driven notification system for an African use case.
Built for Africa. Come build with us.
Join the eSMS Africa developer community for hackathons, build challenges, technical workshops, API updates and the chance to build on the continent's communications infrastructure.