Jamaican and Barbadian Team Claim Victory at Zindi's Inaugural Caribbean Hackathon

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago - Dec. 16, 2025 - PRLog -- Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – Zindi, the largest data science competition platform in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, successfully concluded its first-ever Caribbean hackathon, which ran from November 17 to December 13, 2025, marking a historic milestone in the region's tech and innovation landscape. The competition culminated with final pitch presentations on December 13 at the AIIC (Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre) launch in Trinidad and Tobago. Out of 40 competing teams, a Barbadian team, Team Machel, won the pitch competition, while three Jamaican teams—SMG Labs, JAIA, and Di Transcribers—dominated the technical phase, sweeping all three prize-winning positions by building the best-performing automatic speech recognition (ASR) models.

The groundbreaking event brought together data scientists, developers, and tech enthusiasts from across the Caribbean to tackle the challenge of building automatic speech recognition models for Caribbean accents. Over nearly a month, 40 teams worked to develop innovative solutions, with the competition testing their technical prowess through Zindi's data science challenges while also evaluating their ability to communicate and pitch solutions at the AIIC launch event.

"We are thrilled to bring Zindi's mission of advancing data science skills to the Caribbean," said Celina Lee, CEO and Founder of Zindi. "The caliber of talent we witnessed was exceptional. With 40 teams competing, the Jamaican teams' complete dominance of the technical phase—building the three best-performing ASR models—was remarkable. Team Machel from Barbados then delivered a compelling pitch that showcased the power of AI for cultural preservation. This event demonstrates the incredible depth of tech talent across the region and marks just the beginning of our commitment to fostering innovation in the Caribbean."

The hackathon was made possible through the generous support of major sponsor Sarah Rudder Chulhan, Associate Director, Digital Client Experience, Technology, Infrastructure & Innovation at CIBC Caribbean. CIBC Caribbean's sponsorship underscores the organization's commitment to advancing digital innovation and developing technical talent throughout the region.

Read More at Impact Newswire - https://wp.me/pf85Ik-5vJ