Cayman could become the Caribbean’s hi-tech hub, the organisers of an event designed to promote computing have said.
Bayo Sodimu, a volunteer at the ‘Hackathon’ event held on 10 May at Cayman Enterprise City’s Signal House, said the event was designed to attract people new to computer skills and those who had some experience and wanted to learn more, as well as benefit the community.
“For me personally, I think Cayman has huge potential and could potentially be something like the Silicon Valley of the Caribbean and I believe that with my whole heart,” he said.
Sodimu, a software engineer, said Cayman had a deep pool of computing expertise drawn from around the world, plus a population that had “determination, curiosity and an interest in building”.
Entrants were given a list of charities for inspiration and asked to design an app that would benefit the work of a non-profit.
Sodimu said, “If we can create an environment or community where we can bring these people together to do something that’s going to help the local community and also help people who are trying to get into this space and navigate this new world that we are seeing, I think that’s what I’d like to see coming out of this stuff.”
The Cayman Islands Computer Science Society helped organise the competition, which was won by data engineer Saaleha Aafreen Abrar Ali.
Aafreen Abrar Ali, who has a data engineering background, said she had been inspired by a hunt for Spikey, the dog mascot of Kman Vets, which went missing from a dog daycare centre in Red Bay last November.
A massive hunt for the missing dog was launched, including a large reward offer and a social media blitz, but Spikey’s remains were found after his distinctive orange harness was spotted hanging from a bush at the side of a road in Beach Bay about three months later.
Aafreen Abrar Ali said she had wondered why there was no web application to keep track of stray and missing pets and developed one at the Hackathon.
Charlie Kirkconnell, the CEO of Cayman Enterprise City, said the idea of the Hackathon was to present “something interesting, fun and different” under the banner of ‘Hack for Social Good’ to encourage people working in, or considering a career in, the tech field.
He added, “I like to think it does inspire the developer community in that it takes them outside their normal day-to-day and gives them an opportunity to maybe make programming and coding fun again — as opposed to just being a job.”
Kirkconnell agreed that becoming the region’s Silicon Valley was an achievable goal for Cayman.
He said, “That’s what we’re here for … that’s our mission. To turn the Cayman Islands into a globally significant technology hub.”
Kirkconnell said fulfilling the mission involves a lot of small, incremental advances.
“Over time, you find you have gathered together a number of what have become very important, significant smaller initiatives and you … look back on it and say, ‘Wow, we’ve actually created something really, really interesting and something substantial’,” he said.