Hackathon and Internship Program

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

Through the program, we would expose Cardano and the blockchain ecosystem more to the larger market, and have our student developers build smart contract solutions for some of these local businesses.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

Dr. James Mulli, Academic Dean of European Business University - Luxembourg has years of experience teaching blockchain development and has implemented several smart contracts. EBU has an active partnership with IOG to teach Plutus/Haskell course in a structured and guided form.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The European Business University - Luxembourg (EBU) (http://ebu.lu/) is an accredited university by the Accreditation Service for Certifying Bodies (ASCB) and has over 7700 students from over 110 countries with 85% of them coming from African countries.

Also, check out our student testimonials:

Most of our students are in our certificate impact program (https://connect.ebu.lu/) where students study our courses on a scholarship basis.

Within the program, we offer our Plutus/Haskell course, taught in English for a period of 13 weeks. The course is based on the educational material provided directly by IOG, under the educational strategic partnership established between IOG and EBU (https://ebu.lu/partnerships/) - We have over 50 partners with reputable organizations all over the world.

On the final week of the course, students are required to complete a final project challenge. Here, they are given a real-world problem statement and are required to work in groups to develop smart contracts to solve the problem to pass the course. So far we have had over 140 students taking the course with over 25 of them successfully completing it.

To ensure the students continue applying the knowledge and concepts learnt, EBU plans to organize a hackathon for each term. The successful students will build more smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain as they build their possible solutions. The students will also stand a chance to win awards for their proposed solution. Moreover, they will be helping in building the blockchain more thus encouraging more development and adoption of the Cardano blockchain in Africa.

In addition to that, EBU plans to have EBU Hubs where our developers will be linked to corporations/ businesses who require smart contracts to improve their operations. The students will get to intern in these corporations as they build on these solutions. This not only creates future potential employment opportunities for them but also is an avenue for them to work on real business problems.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Through our hackathon and internship program, businesses will be able to have smart contracts implemented for their operations thus building and empowering them. They will be able to get a level of protection they would otherwise never be able to afford.

Moreover, the potential job opportunities that emerge from this will create a demand for the skill encouraging more people to take on Cardano development.

Thus, the proposed solution contributes to both growing Africa and growing the Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Possible Risk: Natural difficulty of the Plutus/Haskell course might limit students from successfully completing the course which is a requirement to benefit from the program.

Strategy of Mitigation: As a respected and established university, our reputation has been baked under the smouldering fire of teaching complex topics to communities under serious socio-economic hardship. Proof of this is the vote of confidence that IOG and other equally respected organisations fighting on the same battlefield give to our work. In the framework of the collaboration with IOG, we have already delivered and continue to deliver the course, taught by a very knowledgable course instructor who was a Plutus Pioneer: Second cohort, and successfully completed the program.

Possible Risk: Not having 100% of our students getting internships.

Strategy of Mitigation: We shall partner with various corporations that will help us in building our EBU Hubs that will act as workspaces where our students will get to build on projects and be connected with businesses to work as interns to build smart contract solutions for them, all on the Cardano blockchain.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Milestone 1: Organising the Hackathon

• During the first occurrence, organise all past successful students to form groups, and work on their projects based on a problem statement.
• One week later, the students present their working projects during the hackathon.
• Have the projects assessed by the EBU team and the Plutus/Haskell course instructor.
• The winning teams get awarded.

Milestone 2: Internship program

Output 1: Get corporations/businesses who require smart contract solutions.

Output 2: Connect students to these corporations to work as interns to build these solutions.

• Have the students work remotely or on the business site.

Output 3: Employment creation for the interns

• Having the interns hired to continue developing blockchain projects in these corporations/ businesses.

Output 4: EBU Hubs creation

• Have physical locations where students can get support and internet resources from, and even work from and network.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

BUDGET:

For the hackathon part of the program, there will be 5 teams with 4 people each. The top teams will be awarded as follows:

• The winning team prize: $1000
• Runner-up prize: $700
• 1st runner-up prize: $400

The award money could be used by students to fund the development of their projects further.

For the internship part of the program:

• 25 interns: ($250/mo per intern x 3 months: $750) = $18750

Logistics and planning: $5000

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Dr. James Mulli - Director/Academic Dean, European Business University - Luxembourg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmulli/

Susan Ndagi - Technical Administrator and Support Officer, European Business University - Luxembourg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanndagi/

Ann Matati - Scholarship Program Coordinator, European Business University - Luxembourg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-matati-aa482616a/

Ernest Musyoki - Data Scientist and Plutus/Haskell Instructor, European Business University - Luxembourg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernest-musyoki404/

Sebastian Pabon - Plutus/Haskell Instructor, European Business University - Luxembourg (Spanish Campus)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ing-sebastian-pabon/

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

If funded, we would not return to Catalyst for further funding

The Hackathon and Internship program aims to create awareness and increase visibility for our Cardano smart contract developer students with an aim of eventually getting them employment in organisations where they would be building these solutions. Through employment, the developers would then be able to sustain themselves.

Moreover, after the launch of the pilot program, the program would disrupt the necessary market and we would be able to run the program yearly as projected, with support from these organisations as well.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

KPI 1: The projects developed during the hackathon

• The detailing and depth of the projects
• The practicality of the project and if they solve the problem statement presented

• Hackathon length = 1 week every term (14 weeks)

KPI 2: The number of students incubated as interns for the development and implementation of smart contract solutions needed by these corporations/ businesses.

• Internship length = 3 months

KPI 3: The number of students offered job opportunities within these corporations to progress with the development and implementation of more smart contract solutions within their operations.

KPI 4: Development of EBU Hubs as a result of larger masses taking interest in the use of the Cardano blockchain technology. This will allow people in Africa to connect to the internet, meet their peers (students), and form networks.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Stage 1: Students build great projects during the hackathon that solve the problem statement.

Stage 2: Having more students pique interest in learning Plutus/Haskell and enrol on the course as a result.

Stage 3: Students landing internships and even job opportunities thus applying their new knowledge and skills to real business applications.

Stage 4: Development of the EBU Hubs, starting within Kenya where the majority of our students come from, and eventual expansion across Africa and the world.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

Entirely new proposal

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG Goals

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

SDG Subgoals

10.1 By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average

10.5 Improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the implementation of such regulations

4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations

4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular, least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries