Ethiopia’s technology community gathered at the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa on July 25 and 26 for what organisers billed as the country’s largest artificial intelligence hackathon, with Ethio Telecom among the key partners supporting the event.
A launchpad, not just a competition
The Cursor AI Hackathon Ethiopia was organised by Cursor Community Ethiopia in partnership with the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and Ethio Telecom. Around 60 teams took part over the two-day event, working to turn early-stage ideas into functioning AI product prototypes rather than polish existing projects. Organisers required that submissions begin at the idea stage, a deliberate choice meant to reward fresh startup concepts over teams arriving with finished builds.
Participants used AI development tools to design, build and pitch startup concepts with commercial or social potential, with mentors and investors present throughout the event to review projects and, in some cases, offer funding on the spot. Anyone registering without a team was matched into a group of five based on skill and interest, while pre-formed teams could register together using a shared code.
Support built for founders, not just coders
A distinguishing feature of the hackathon was its emphasis on pathways beyond the event itself. Incubation partners including AAU Startups Centre, Gheero and Innobiz-K, the startup support arm operating under the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, were present to identify promising teams for mentorship, workspace access and follow-up support. Investors attending the event were positioned to engage directly with teams during the hackathon, rather than only at a final pitch session, giving strong projects a more direct route toward funding conversations.
The event also carried a specific track tied to its venue, inviting teams to build ideas focused on the Adwa Museum itself, such as virtual tours, AI-powered guides or interactive history experiences, in coordination with the museum’s own team.
Part of a wider hackathon push
The Adwa Museum event followed a series of smaller Cursor-branded hackathons held in Ethiopia earlier in 2026, including a multi-university hackathon in eastern Ethiopia hosted by Haramaya University in March and a virtual hackathon built around the Cursor SDK in May. Together, the events point to a sustained push by the Cursor developer community, alongside government and private sector partners, to widen participation in AI development beyond Addis Ababa’s established tech circles.
What comes next
As of publication, organisers had not yet released the names of winning teams or details of the projects that emerged from the two-day event. Given the hackathon’s stated goal of connecting strong teams to investors and incubation partners rather than ending at the pitch stage, further announcements on funded startups or incubation placements are expected in the weeks following the event.
