Participants to create disaster recovery solutions & compete for $60k prize pool
The U.S. Small Business Administration and Visa will host a National Small Business Week Hackathon at the Inclusive Innovation Incubator in Washington, D.C. May 3-5.
App developers, business owners and idea generators will face the challenge of mashing up application programming interfaces (APIs) from the federal government, the Visa Developer Platform and business continuity planners to help small businesses recover from natural disasters.
Participants will be asked to consider how small businesses can restore their revenue streams, finance short and long-term recovery, establish a robust supply chain, deal with power disruptions and keep their employees on the payroll in the aftermath of a major disaster. Points awarded for creativity and originality.
The winning entries will be announced May 5 by SBA Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton and Visa Senior Vice President for Global Small Business David Simon. A $25,000 prize will be awarded to the first-place winner. The second-place prize is $15,000, and the third-place winner will receive $10,000. In addition, awards of $5,000 each will be given to the Visa API challenge winner and the Authorize.net API challenge winner.
For more information and the full hackathon schedule, visit https://smallbizweek.hackathon.com
Media are invited to attend all events but must register by emailing Claudia Lombana at clombana@visa.com(link sends e-mail).
Hackathon begins on Friday, May 3
WHAT: National Small Business Week Hackathon Kickoff Session
WHEN: 7 p.m. EDT
WHERE: Inclusive Innovation Incubator, Howard University, 2301 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.
WHO: SBA Chief Information Officer Maria Roat and Visa Vice President for Global Small Business Nate Smith will welcome participants.
HOW: Press may register for this event by emailing Claudia Lombana at clombana@visa.com(link sends e-mail).
Conclusion and Awards on Sunday, May 5
WHAT: National Small Business Week Hackathon Demos and Announcement of Winners
WHEN: 9:45 a.m. – Code Freeze 10 a.m. – Final Demos 1 p.m. – Announcement of winners
WHERE: Inclusive Innovation Incubator, Howard University, 2301 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.
WHO: The SBA will announce the winning entries at 1 p.m. SBA Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton and Visa Senior Vice President for Global Small Business David Simon will hand out the awards.
Judges for the hackathon include SBA Chief Information Officer Maria Roat, Visa Vice President for Global Small Business Nate Smith, Technical.ly DC Market Editor Michelai Graham, and Janice Jucker, President of Three Brothers Bakery, a Houston small business that recovered in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
HOW: Press may register for this event by emailing Claudia Lombana at clombana@visa.com(link sends e-mail).
For more information about National Small Business Week visit: www.sba.gov/nsbw