Welcome to the November edition of the DD Newsletter - the place to go for your round-ups, updates, and everything in between. Here we'll round off what has been happening in our community and look ahead at our upcoming events and initiatives!
As usual, the newsletter is jam-packed with updates, lots of stuff to share, and a few cool thingsworth checking out. This edition includes information about upcoming events and campaigns, a Community spotlight, interesting reads, and our favourite meme of the month. You won't want to miss it.
Stay safe and in good health!
Hack for Gaza 🇵🇸
This past month we held the Hack for Gaza which turned out to be our biggest and most successful hackathon so far.
Motivated by such an important humanitarian cause, we mobilised, facilitated, and executed the entire event with 3 days of planning. Our volunteers were working around the clock to create teams, secure venue space, collaborate with sponsors/mission partners and so much more in order to make the event a reality.
And as if 3 days’ notice didn’t make it difficult enough, the Hack for Gaza compelled so many people to participate that we actually had to open it up and make it our first ever Global Hackathon!
But the outputs made it all worth it in the end. With 3 days planning, 2 days hacking and 1 pitch night, the Hack for Gaza numbers are unbelievable:
🧑💻 - 172 Participants
🌍 - 22 Countries
🤝 - 29 Teams
🚀 - 20 Products
We are now working with our teams to support them with their marketing and product launches/rollout and have already seen a lot of momentum gained with some of the products.
A special thank you goes out to everyone who helped us make this event possible with the intention of supporting such an important humanitarian cause. In particular, that includes Muzz, Simply Smashed, Friend of Al-Aqsa, Cage, Hulm Club, Muslim Census, all hack participants, our Deen Developers volunteers, and the Deen Developers community for providing support throughout.
Deen Developers events sell out quickly so make sure to follow us across all our social platforms to stay up to date with our latest events and activities
Additional Highlights
The Deen Developers team finished in second place at The GMW Summit for the Continuum Spark award. 🥈 Congratulations to all other finalists!
Our Women in Technology community has reached over 500 members! 🥳 We have two events coming up soon so keep an eye out on socials.
Announcing our Forge Graduates 🎓
After 12 intense weeks, the Forge accelerator programme finally concluded with Demo Night. Our teams leveraged the mentoring, networking, funding and support that Forge provides to transform their startups from an idea to a real scalable business/product!
Check out some of the amazing solutions that were unveiled at Demo Night:
💸 - Ebixi is a payments platform that has launched in Somalia and already facilitated over $1.7m worth of payments through the platform.
🧠 - Mindflow Health is a personalised health platform that uses data to optimise your brain health and fight off cognitive decline. Since graduating from Forge the team have moved on to the Techstars programme.
🎗️ - Amana is aiming to connect Muslims to change-makers and organisations to support the Muslim Ummah and the World. Join their waitlist now to keep up-to-date with their launch.
💍 - Nikkah Noir have built the world’s first matchmaking app exclusively for Black Muslims. They are now going on a big marketing push to onboard users onto the platform so stay tuned for upcoming Nikkah Noir events.
The Forge programme has been a huge success and it’s been great to see the outcome of all the effort that the teams put in. We’re so excited to continue following their journeys as they continue to grow their products!
Community Spotlight
Sims for Gaza
This month’s spotlight is focussed on another launch that came off the back of the hackathon - Sims for Gaza.
Developed by Ibrahim and team, Sims for Gaza identified the benefit that eSIMs were providing in Gaza in the face of continuous internet and network disruptions.
Sims for Gaza was built as an easy way to help distribute eSIMs to those who need it while facing connectivity outtages The platform is making this process as easy as possible by reducing it to 3 simple steps:
🧾 - Purchase your eSIM
💻 - Upload it to the website
🇵🇸 - Have it distributed to those who need it in Gaza
All you have to do is submit a screenshot of your QR code and the eSim will be distributed through verified charities, organisations and journalists. The site even has a list of trusted providers.
Other Spotlights
Unclassified was created at the Hack for Gaza as an easy way to find out what UK politicians are saying on issues affecting Palestine.
Fill Us In is another Hack for Gaza output that is built to be the ultimate resources hub for the Palestinian cause.
PalestinePact is a chrome extension that was built at the Hack for Gaza to help simplify your BDS commitments by scanning products on major websites and blurring them if they are linked to the Boycott list.
The Community Spotlight section is an opportunity to share announcements, job openings, and anything else that’s worth highlighting.
Post on the #03_show-and-tell channel if you have something to share.
