From Learning to Leading: How Dada Devs Builders Left Their Mark at BTC++ Nairobi

ByLorraine Marcel

When the winners were announced at BTC++ Nairobi, the applause celebrated more than individual projects.

It marked a moment that had been years in the making.

Among 37 teams competing at one of the world’s most technically demanding Bitcoin hackathons, builders from the Dada Devs community earned multiple awards, finalist placements, and recognition across some of Bitcoin’s most important problem spaces. Privacy. Open source. Financial inclusion. Developer tooling. Funding infrastructure.

For the women standing on that stage, the weekend wasn’t simply about winning prizes. It was proof that they belong among the people building Bitcoin’s future.

And for Dada Devs, it affirmed something the organization has believed from the very beginning: when women are given access to world-class technical education, meaningful mentorship, and the opportunity to build, they don’t just participate in the ecosystem, they strengthen it.

Building for Real Problems

Every project presented during BTC++ Nairobi started with a question.

  • How do we make it easier to contribute to Bitcoin Core?
  • How do we bring Bitcoin to people using feature phones?
  • How do we improve privacy?
  • How do we create better funding infrastructure for builders?

Rather than building products for demonstrations, Dada Devs participants built solutions for problems that developers across the global Bitcoin ecosystem continue to wrestle with.

One of the strongest performances came from PoWR, built by Anne Adhiambo, Lucy Kamau, Shannon, and Salma Adam. The team finished as a Top 6 Finalist, standing alongside some of the competition’s strongest technical projects. In a field filled with experienced developers from around the world, reaching the final six was a remarkable achievement.

Github Repo: https://github.com/Salma-dev-ops/PoWR-System

Another standout was Core-Gate, created by Aisha Gojo and Gathoni Zarah, which received the Btrust Open Source Contribution Award. The project addressed one of Bitcoin’s longest-standing challenges: making it easier for new developers to contribute to Bitcoin Core. While conversations about lowering barriers to open-source contribution are common, Core-Gate focused on building practical infrastructure to make that first contribution more achievable.

Github Repo: https://github.com/Zeegaths/core-gate

Accessibility was another theme throughout the weekend.

LNPesa, developed by Kendy Dorcas and Kelly Gakii, received the Best Tool for Mobile Brokers and Agents Using Bitcoin award, sponsored by Minmo. By enabling Bitcoin-powered cash exchange on feature phones, the project reflected a simple but important reality: meaningful financial inclusion in Africa cannot depend solely on smartphones. Sometimes innovation means designing for the technology people already have.

Github Repo: https://github.com/Nandiehakuna/LnPesa.git

Privacy, another core pillar of Bitcoin’s future, was represented through SiriScore, built by Sharon Nkatha, Jane Rose, Susan Githaiga, and Nelly Nakhero. Their work was recognized for bringing fresh thinking to Bitcoin privacy tooling, demonstrating that African builders are contributing not only to adoption but also to the protocol’s long-term resilience.

Github Repo: https://github.com/siri-score/siriscore.git

Other Dada Devs teams also tackled ambitious challenges throughout the weekend.

BitFund, represented by Esther Chester and Irene Nditi, explored new approaches to Bitcoin-powered innovation funding, while Pontswap, represented by Precious, tackled infrastructure for coordinating Bitcoin-to-fiat swaps. Both teams chose difficult problems that continue to shape Bitcoin’s evolution, contributing ideas that pushed important conversations forward.

By the close of the hackathon, four projects involving our contributors had earned awards or formal recognition.

The results were impressive. But the numbers tell only part of the story.

The Journey Behind the Weekend

Long before the demos, judging sessions, and award announcements, these builders were students.

Many entered Dada Devs with curiosity, determination, and little experience contributing to Bitcoin’s technical ecosystem. Through months of learning, collaboration, mentorship, and countless hours spent debugging code, reviewing pull requests, and refining ideas, they developed the confidence to build in one of the world’s most demanding open-source communities.

That journey was visible throughout BTC++ Nairobi.

It was visible in the quality of the projects. It was visible in the confidence with which teams defended their ideas.

And it was visible on stage when Dada Devs’ Head of Operations, Wandia Mugo,  addressed the audience, a leader who began her own journey as a student in the organization’s very first cohort and now helps shape the next generation of African women building in Bitcoin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a17gFhXyglE

That full-circle moment captured what Dada Devs has always sought to build: not simply graduates, but leaders who create opportunities for those coming behind them.

Building the Future, Together

Since its launch, Dada Devs has trained more than 300 women, supported open-source contributions to Bitcoin repositories, and helped participants move from learning technical concepts to building real-world products. Along the way, the organization has also established Africa’s first physical hub dedicated to supporting women building in Bitcoin and emerging technologies.

BTC++ Nairobi was not the destination.

It was another milestone in a much longer journey.

Every project submitted, every line of code written, every prototype demonstrated, and every collaboration formed adds to a growing body of evidence that exceptional Bitcoin builders are emerging from Africa and that women are helping lead that movement.

The future of Bitcoin will not be built by one company, one country, or one community. It will be built by people willing to solve difficult problems together.

This weekend showed that Dada Devs builders are already doing exactly that.

Congratulations to every Dada who participated, collaborated, experimented, and built. Whether your project received an award or not, your work represents something much bigger than a single weekend.

You are helping shape the future of Bitcoin.