The New x Payaza Presents

THE FUSION HACK

We’re funding teams to spend a week building tools for African creators. You apply as a team of three to five. If we pick you, you get to build out your idea, get access to Payaza’s payment API, mentors, seven days to ship and an opportunity to present to a room of investors, partners and technologists.

Submit your Idea
How it Works
THE PROCESS

FROM IDEA TO DEMO DAY

1

Apply

Three to five people. One dev, one designer, one non-technical. One form. No fee. It takes an evening.

2

Shortlist

Our review panel scores every submission against the criteria. Five ideas advance. Everyone else can still join a team.

3

Build

Five teams. Seven days. Mentors on call, Payaza's payment infrastructure wired in, and an opportunity to build the future.

4

Demo

30 minutes on stage. Six judges. $20,000 in cash and a three-month residency for the team that builds the strongest product.

WHO'S BEHIND THIS

TWO ORGANIZATIONS. ONE THESIS.

The New Church recently opened The New Fusion Centre – a permanent space for builders, innovators and creatives, not just for church services. Payaza is one of the largest payments company in Africa. Both of us think the same thing: there are too few founders in this market shipping tools their peers can actually use, and the bottleneck isn’t talent.

The Fusion Hack is how we start doing something about it. One of us brings the room, the community, and the mentors. The other brings the payment rails and the technology. Between us, we can launch the next unicorns out of Africa.

Submit your Idea
IF YOU BUILD

Build something that matters.

FOR EVERYONE ELSE

Come and Experience Faith-Driven Innovation

THE BRIEF

BUILD FOR THE AFRICAN CREATOR ECONOMY

African creatives shape global taste. The people making the work capture almost none of the value. The tools they'd use to change that don't exist yet, at least not built for African currencies, African payment behavior, or African legal frameworks. Discovery is broken. Rights are unenforceable in practice. Getting paid takes weeks when it works at all. Pick one part of this problem and build a tool that fixes it. Not a platform. Not a superapp. One thing, done well enough that a real creator would pay to use it.

PAYMENTS & MONETIZATION

Turn attention into income. Tipping, subscriptions, micro-payments, built the way Africans actually pay.

DISCOVERY & DISTRIBUTION

Fix the recommendation gap. Help creators get found, and paid, for work the platforms haven't surfaced.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Fix the algorithm gap. Help creators get found, and paid, for work the platforms haven't surfaced.

RIGHTS & LICENSING

Protect what gets made here. Simple, enforceable IP and licensing for African creative work.

WHO'S IN

OPEN TO ANYONE WITH AN IDEA WORTH BUILDING

No membership. No fee. No gatekeeping. A short list of rules that keep the cycle fair, and a few we won't bend on.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Three to five people. All 18 or older.
At least one developer, one designer, and one non-technical person on the team at submission.
One person submits on behalf of the team. Everyone else is named on the form, with role and email.
One person can only be on one team. If your name shows up on two submissions, both get thrown out.
One idea per person as lead. Not shortlisted? You can still join a Top 5 team at the matching mixer on August 31.
Payaza account holders

WHO CAN'T APPLY?

Anyone on the organizing committee, judging panel, or mentor bench, and their immediate families.
Teams whose idea is already a funded or revenue-generating company. Bring us new work.
Anything illegal, hateful, or built to harass. We reserve the right to remove you from the venue.
Late applications. Deadline is 11:59pm on Sunday, September 7th. The only extension is if this form itself breaks.
THE PRIZES

CASH, SPACE AND THE PARTNERSHIPS THAT MATTERS MOST

The cash is real. So is the residency. But the most valuable thing you can win here is warm introductions to the people who can help you keep going.

1ST

$10,000

$10,000 in cash. Three months of studio space at The New Fusion Centre, no rent. A direct access intro to Payaza's product and engineering community and academy.

2ND

$5,000

$5,000 in cash. One months of co-working access at the Fusion Centre. Continued time with the mentor pool through year-end.

3RD

$2,500

$2,500 in cash. Three months of 1:1 mentorship with a senior operator we match to your problem.

Best Design

For the team whose product actually feels well-crafted. Design is what turns a demo you remember into a product a stranger would trust.

People's Choice

Voted by the audience on Demo Day. The team whose story lands hardest with the people in the room.

Best Social Impact

For the team whose tool would most concretely change life for a real community of African creators.

All prizes are paid through Payaza.

FAQs

THE QUESTION SERIOUS BUILDERS ASK

Should we apply if the idea isn't fully formed?

Yes. The best applications we get won’t be from teams with a polished business plan. They’ll be from teams who see a real problem clearly and can describe it in one paragraph. If that’s you, apply. Ideas move fast. Teams move slow. We’re selecting for teams.

APPLY

TEN MINUTES, ONE FORM, DON'T OVERTHINK IT

One person from the team fills this in. Write like you'd explain the problem to a friend. Short is better. Specific beats general. We'll spend about ten minutes reading your application, make it easy to say yes.

Submit your Idea
Submit Your Idea