Ghana Hackathon hopes to help spur the next wave of West African start-ups

The most talented and ambitious entrepreneurs in West Africa are being urged to join a new hackathon program this month in Accra, Ghana, which hopes to spin out a wave of new tech startups geared to African needs.

The Hack for Big Choices is a non-profit which hopes to impact the fast-developing West African economies by helping to create what it calls ‘sustainable start-ups’.

According to many statistics, Africa has the fastest growing middle class in the world, and has 6 out of 10 of the fastest growing economies. Ghana, where the hackathon is being held, has averaged over 6 percent annual growth over the past six years and hit 14 percent in 2011. Economic growth is predicted to be up 8 percent in 2015.

Overall, West Africa has 340 million people, and according to ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States), if sub-Saharan Africa could replicate Asia’s growth it would add US$500 billion to its economies every year for the next 30 years.

Read more: TechCrunch