When we designed the Badagry Builder Challenge, we did not start with technology. We started with problems.
What slows a farmer down? What makes a clinic visit take all day? What does a trader lose when the network drops or the road floods? Every good invention starts with someone noticing a problem that everyone else has learned to live with.
So instead of asking teams to “build an app”, we asked them to choose a problem from seven parts of daily life in Badagry.
Education. How students learn, revise and find help outside the classroom.
Health. Getting care, information and medicine to people sooner.
Agriculture. Helping farmers and fishers grow, store and sell what they produce.
Money. Saving, paying and running a small business with less friction.
Transport and logistics. Moving people and goods around a growing town.
Creative economy and local commerce. Helping makers, artists and traders reach more customers.
Community infrastructure. Water, power, waste and the shared systems a community runs on.
Entries closed on 9 November, and our judges are now reading every one. The finalists will pitch their solutions live on the main stage on 27 November.
The question behind all seven tracks is the same one we started with: what would you fix first? On 27 November, you will hear Badagry’s answers.