DevCareer and Nomba Launch Nigeria’s Premier Payments Hackathon — With a Direct Pathway into the Nomba Developer Partner Program

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DevCareer, Africa’s developer talent community, has announced the Nomba x DevCareer Hackathon 2026—a 5-week program running from June 8 to July 18, 2026, inviting Nigerian developer teams to build real, working payment products on Nomba’s API stack.

Registrations are open now at devcareer.io

This is not a typical hackathon. Every developer who ships a working integration and clears the judging threshold is a direct candidate for the Nomba Developer Partner Program-a formal pathway that lets builders earn on the transaction volume they refer. The hackathon is the recruitment filter. The partner program is the commercial relationship that follows.

Who Should Enter

Building production-grade software is a team sport. This hackathon is open to complete cross-functional teams. Registration is open to:

Frontend and Backend Engineers
Full Stack Developers
Product Designers
Product Managers

Participants may enter as individuals seeking a team or bring an existing squad. Teams of two to four members are recommended. All builds must address real Nigerian use cases.

The Challenge Tracks

Teams will select from two categories of challenge:

Build Tracks challenge teams to ship real products on Nomba’s current API surface: checkout and recurring payments, virtual accounts as financial infrastructure, and webhook-native applications. These are the use cases Nigerian businesses are solving for right now.

Infrastructure Tracks go deeper. Teams are invited to build the missing layers- a managed subscriptions engine, a persistent dedicated virtual account system, or a KYC-gated payment flow integrating Nigerian identity verification providers. Infrastructure track winners will be formally invited to a product conversation with Nomba’s CTO to discuss whether their build belongs on the platform roadmap.

Prize Structure

1st Prize: USD 4,000
2nd Prize: USD 1,500
3rd Prize: USD 1,000

Certificates will be issued to every participant who completes the onboarding training phase and ships a working product integration. Certification is the prerequisite for the Nomba Developer Partner Program.

Nomba Forward Deployed Engineer Training

During onboarding week, all registered participants have access to the Nomba Forward Deployed Engineer Training — a free, Nigeria-focused engineering track covering secure implementation patterns, production integration standards, and real-world payment operations. The program runs two certification tracks: Payment Security Foundations and API Integration and Webhooks.

Certification is based on attendance, practical lab performance, and a final capstone demonstration of a working payment-enabled solution built to production standards. Developers who earn certification and ship a usable integration become eligible for the Nomba Developer Partner Program.

“Nigerian developers are building the next generation of payment infrastructure, and we want them building on Nomba. This hackathon is how we find the builders who understand what the market actually needs — and bring them into a commercial relationship, not just a competition. The best submissions won’t just win a prize; they’ll shape what we build next” — Jafer Ali Shariff, Head of Product, Nomba

The Nomba Developer Partner Program

Developers who complete the training, ship a usable integration, and clear the judging threshold become eligible for the Nomba Developer Partner Program.

Program Timeline

June 8th – June 23rd: Registration Window
June 24th – June 29th: Official Onboarding & AMAs
July 1st – July 7th: The Build & Submission Phase
July 8th – July 14th: Judging & Submission Review
Demo Day & Awards: July 18, 2026 (Fully Virtual)

“Creating real payment products goes beyond writing code. It requires collaboration between engineers, designers, and product thinkers — the kind of well-rounded talent DevCareer has been developing across its community. With over 42,000 members across Africa, we have focused on preparing people to build for real production environments. This hackathon gives them a clear pathway to move from learning into building systems that ship and scale in the real world, creating value while giving them a platform to grow their careers.” — Favour Chibueze, Community & Partnership Lead, DevCareer

Apply Here

Applications close on 23 June 2026.

About DevCareer

DevCareer is Africa’s tech talent community with over 42,000 members across the continent. The organisation runs structured technical training programs, community-led learning initiatives, and industry partnerships that connect skilled African tech talents to opportunities in the global technology economy.

About Nomba

Nomba is a Nigerian payment infrastructure company providing businesses with checkout APIs, virtual accounts, webhooks, transfers, and tokenized card flows. Nomba’s developer-facing stack is designed for Nigerian market conditions and is in active use across consumer, business, and platform contexts.

MEDIA CONTACT

Support Team, DevCareer

support@devcareer.io

DevCareer Community

X / Twitter: @dev_careers

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