🚀 𝗠𝗬 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞𝟰𝗙𝗨𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗡 𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗬

🚀 𝗠𝗬 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞𝟰𝗙𝗨𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗡 𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗬

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Hack4Futo, one of the biggest hackathons at my university Federal University of Technology Owerri Nigeria. Out of 24 amazing teams, only 8 made it to the finals – and I’m proud to say that my team, 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮, was one of them.

💡 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗔

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 designed to make online shopping 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 and more 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁. Instead of users spending hours searching through different marketplaces, Finda’s chatbot helps them:

Search externally across platforms like Jumia, Amazon, ebay and much more.

Compare products and prices quickly.

Get personalized recommendations based on their needs.

Connect directly with vendors, giving small businesses more visibility.

🔥 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗨𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗟

Vendors pay ₦1,000 to list their products.

For promotions and better visibility, they pay ₦2,000.

We integrate affiliate links with platforms like Jumia, so we earn commissions while customers enjoy discounts.

A future premium version will offer vendors extra features like analytics and priority placement.

⚙️ 𝗠𝗬 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗦 THE 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥

I was responsible for building the backend with Django, and the journey wasn’t without hurdles:

𝗔𝗣𝗜 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: We reached out to Jumia and Amazon for API keys. Jumia confirmed they don’t provide access, and Amazon hasn’t responded yet. As a solution, I integrated 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗔𝗣𝗜 to handle product search and keep the system running.

𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Optimizing PostgreSQL for speed and consistency.

𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 & 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Handling Redis, caching, and ensuring the system can scale for many users.

𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: Protecting vendor and customer data while keeping the platform simple to use.

🔥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦

We didn’t make the top 3, but we proudly came 4th overall – right after the winners. For me, that’s a big achievement, because this 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 was more about 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵, 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, and 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 than just the final ranking.

🌍 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦

Persistence matters more than setbacks.

Every technical challenge can become a stepping stone.

Teamwork transforms ideas into impact.

I’m truly grateful to my teammates for their hard work, to Hack4Futo for the platform, and to everyone who supported us along the way.

This is just 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮 – we’re excited to keep building and scaling this vision.

#Hack4FUTO

#HackathonJourney

#TeamFinda

#BackendDevelopment

#DjangoDevelopers

#AIInnovation

#EcommerceSolutions

#TechForGood

#InnovationChallenge

#TechAfrica