A young Nigerian digital product designer’s success at this year’s Hackathon competition highlights the growing opportunities within Qatar’s tech space.

At this year’s Qatar Innovation Hackathon, Ajiri Omafokpe leveraged her six years of experience in fintech to drive product building during the intense competition.

Contestants were challenged to utilise digital technologies—such as machine learning and augmented reality—to develop innovative business models across six industry-specific themes.

Omafokpe played a key role in the success of Amanah, the first and Takaful aggregator in the GCC, which emerged as one of the winners in the Fintech category. The team, which brought together four dynamic professionals with unique expertise, worked to innovate the Islamic insurance space using cutting-edge solutions.

Amanah’s triumph not only showcased the possibilities of digital solutions, but also highlighted Doha’s potential as a hub for a thriving startup ecosystem.

“My career in the fintech sector started with Yellow Card, where I covered product design, UX design, and marketing design,” Omafokpe told Doha News.

Her time at the pan-African fintech company was a particularly proud moment in her career, where she contributed to the company’s growth.

“At the time when I joined, I was their seventh employee, and now they operate in 20 countries across the continent,” she said.

Building a community

While the Qatar Innovation Hackathon’s primary goal is to attract the Gulf state’s innovative entrepreneurs to create solutions to tackle specific industry themes, in Omafokpe’s case, the impact of the experience extended beyond the competition.

“Coming from the strong tech community that I was part of in Lagos, where there’s wide access to like-minded people and mentors, I felt a gap in Doha,” the Nigeria native explained. “The city lacked a space for tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to connect and collaborate.”

To remedy the gap, Omafokpe, alongside fellow Nigerian and co-founder Michael Ifeanyi, established Builder Tribe, a platform dedicated to supporting startups to scale and succeed across the Middle East.

“We launched in July, and it’s been amazing to see the community response. Smaller companies are seeing that collaboration, rather than competition, is key to supporting and growing the ecosystem,” Ifeanyi said.

Inspired by the goals outlined in the government’s Qatar National Vision 2030 of creating a knowledge-based economy characterised by innovation and entrepreneurship, Omafokpe and Ifeanyi’s platform aims to support tech startups through mentorship.

“I was once at a point where I was just getting started and it was community and mentorship that helped guide me,” Omafokpe explained, discussing how fast-paced the sector is and the importance of upskiling initiatives, especially for Qatar’s youth.

Additionally, Builder Tribe connects innovative ideas with potential investors, bridging the gap between startups and the funding they need to bring their ideas to life.

The importance of storytelling

“Qatar hosts important international events like Web Summit, and the February event was great for making new connections,” Ifeanyi said. “But after that, we knew that so many incredible stories were going untold, and we wanted to contribute by creating a platform where entrepreneurs could connect, share their stories, and collaborate to build something impactful.”

The Builders Tribe co-founder added that the local entrepreneurship of startups can get drowned out by the noise of larger, more established companies.

“Sometimes, it can seem like the scene isn’t so vibrant,” Ifeanyi said. “But we’ve seen that that’s not the case. We found that while there were so many talented innovators in Qatar, their stories weren’t being told or connected in a meaningful way.”

To bridge this gap, the platform has so far hosted two in-person community events to connect the country’s innovators.

“At our last event, we gave five startups the chance to speak on stage and share their ideas with an audience of at least 70 people. Many had never had the opportunity to do so before, and it was amazing to see the impact,” Ifeanyi said. 

For her part, Omafokpe explained that these events are the highlight of her journey so far, noting that “tech can be a lonely and difficult space to navigate”. She added that Qatar is poised to position itself as a global leader in innovation and technology.

“We need a local culture to be created where these strong community ties are enhanced so that an ecosystem of free flowing information and opportunities will be shared,” Omafokpe said.