Complex problems require smart solutions — which is why the Baiterek Hackathon is scouting for the top minds in the region

Because of the advent of technology, much of central Asia is currently enjoying a booming economy. Despite this, however, one of the most common problems still faced by everyday people in the vibrant region is the inability to save. This problem reflects both a lack in capacity and in incentive for people to save cash, which is a phenomenon widely believed to have been ushered in by the 2008 recession.

With lower incomes failing to keep up with the cost of living and reducing interest rates, people have to work harder to build up cash savings in return for lower rewards.

This problem goes hand in hand with other inextricably linked issues that collectively conjure a complex financial experience for everyday people in the region. Another layer to it problematises the intricacies of finance programmes offered by banks.

Banking services tend to be complicated for the everyday user. Securing housing loans, for example, entails learning about piles upon piles of documents that one must prepare on top of the added pressure that goes with making big financial decisions. This is not an easy task as consumers can get wary regarding deposits and savings accounts, especially with the many legal terms and jargons that may not be very easy for customers to understand.

More than that, customers have to contend with a plethora of clerical inconveniences such as queuing at banks and how this takes up a lot of time from their busy days. Additional features such as internet banks, real estate portal, and mobile application also prove challenging.

These are only some of the many obstacles that preclude people from having a healthy financial experience that needs to be resolved.

Why Baiterek is pushing for solutions

The House Construction Savings Bank of Kazakhstan (HCSBK), a subsidiary organization of Baiterek National Management Holding, is the one and the only bank in the Republic of Kazakhstan implementing housing construction savings system. HCSBK implements the system of housing construction savings, which is aimed at the improvement of population housing conditions by attracting the money of depositors to housing construction deposits and providing them with housing loans.

This goal subsists at the heart of HCSBK’s mission because in Kazakhstan, one of the most important areas of social policy is to provide citizens with affordable and high-quality housing. Fittingly, it is Baiterek’s mission to support the sustainable economic development of the Republic of Kazakhstan in order to implement public policies and achieve goals set by the 2050 strategy.

Working congruently with the larger Baiterek mission is providing own housing for Kazhakstani families and increasing the sense of homeland as the core objective of HCSBK.

As such, one of the initiatives being pushed by Baiterek through the HCSBK is to hold a hackathon in Kazakhstan to gather the brightest minds in an attempt to come up with solutions for the country’s challenges.

How the Baiterek Hackathon helps create solutions

The objective of the programme is simple: to gather the most ambitious and talented developers within the region to come up with cutting-edge and innovative solutions to address four overarching problems faced by those in the country, and by extension, in central Asia.

The four problems that the programme seeks to co-create and offer solutions to are: people’s inability to save cash, the lack of awareness and understanding on how banking services work, improving the queuing experience for those who are going through official bank transactions, and overall points of improvement for banking services in Kazakhstan.

By gathering the most energetic young minds in the region and putting them under the wing of some of the industry’s most formidable thinkers in the Asia-Pacific tech ecosystem, the hackathon expects interesting solutions to blossom from the programme.

This initiative further bolsters and emboldens Baiterek’s position as a partner for social transformation in Kazakhstan’s larger finance sector. Moreover, it crystalises their commitment to pushing for sustainable economic development on a macrocosmic level, focusing particularly on the lives of the everyday people who participate in and transact with common banking services.

More than that, the programme is co-organised by Qaztech Ventures, working to promote technology entrepreneurship through venture financing, business incubation, and technology consulting tools.

With HCSBK and Qaztech Ventures working hand-in-hand to foster a stronger finance sector of Kazakhstan and the rest of central Asia as their common goal, much can be expected from this year’s Baiterek Hackathon.

Exploring the nitty-gritty of the Baiterek Hackathon

With a cash prize of as much as 2,000,000 tenge, the Baiterek Hackathon is open to developers from all over the region.

Participants of the Baiterek Hackathon will have to go through a series of four challenges that will each tackle the most pressing problems in the Kazakhstan’s fintech space. A total of 48 hours will be given to participants for them to spend on continuous work on calls in a cosy coworking Smart.Point Almaty.

The cash prize of 2,000,000 tenges will go to the winning team according to the jury’s decision, on top of an agreement to be made with HCSBK.

The four challenges in which the jury’s decision will base on are as follows:

1.) Savings — how we might help users save better, track their savings, and proactively remind them to be more active savers.
2.) Consumer Education — how we can simplify bank processes to make it easier for the customer to better understand all the products and services offered by the banks.
3.) Enriching experiences — how we can make the experience of waiting in line an enriching experience, one that consumers will be able to talk about to their friends and will have a positive experience with.
4.) Others — How we might improve transparency internally and promote cross-collaboration among all bankrupt units.

How to join the Baiterek Hackathon

The hackathon is open to all programmers, designers, business experts, and everyone in between. One important thing to note is that minors who wish to participate in the programme have to provide a signed parent/guardian consent form on the day of the hackathon.

Each team should have 3 to 5 members. Participants who join without a team prior to the day of the hackathon will undergo an optional team formation session as initiated by the programme organizers. Individual participants are encouraged to meet and team up with like-minded innovators at the team formation session.

For more information regarding the Baiterek Hackathon, please visit the programme’s official site here.

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