Bring the Build Challenge to your school
Free to enter and nothing to install. If one of your learners takes the national title, the school takes R25,000.
Two minutes at assembly. One teacher who mentions it. One line in the newsletter. That is the whole ask.
Learners solve a real problem where they live
A national competition for Grade 9 to 12 learners. They find a real problem in their own community, use an AI tool to build a live website that solves it, and pitch it in a short video. No coding, no cost, and it runs on a phone.
No coding, no cost, and it runs on a phone.
- Registration opens 30 November 2026.
- The winner is announced 21 March 2027, Human Rights Day weekend.
- Individual entries only. Any South African school.
Almost nothing, and we'll be specific about it
At assembly
Tell the learners it exists. We give you the script. You read it as-is.
Willing to mention it
That is all it takes. We give them the classroom pack so nobody works it out alone.
Newsletter & parent WhatsApp
We write the copy. You paste it into what you already send.
No fee. No forms for your learners. No software to install, no staff training, and nothing added to anyone's marking.
You're putting the school's name behind something
Here is everything you would want to check before you do.
An independent auditor
South African law requires a promotional competition of this size to appoint an auditor external to the organiser. Ours signs off the judging and the voting. It is a legal obligation rather than a marketing claim, and we welcome it.
The rules are published
Free to read, live from launch, before a single learner registers. Read the rules.
Free to enter
No purchase, no fee, no cost to the learner or the school. There is no way to pay to improve anyone's odds.
Parental consent first
Required under POPIA for every learner under 18. Without it, the learner cannot submit. How consent works.
Safeguarding
First names only, never surnames. No public comments anywhere on the platform. A report button on every build. A school can ask for its name to be suppressed.
Who we are
Zaio Institute of Technology, a South African company. zaio.io
A Grade 11 learner who has shipped a working website that a real person can use is a different learner in March than they were in November.
The honest reason to do itOne prize, and one thing worth more
The national winner's school receives R25,000, paid into the school's bank account, unrestricted. You decide what it is for.
- Paid on the principal's sign-off, documented
- Part of the record the independent auditor reviews
- On top of the learner prize pool
And the actual reason
Learners who have built something real.
Not a certificate, not a workshop they sat through. A live website with a real user, and a learner who can explain why it matters.
One form. No account, no login.
Register your school and we email you the school pack. Assembly script, newsletter copy, parent WhatsApp message, digital flyers, plus the classroom pack to forward to your teachers.
We contact you three times. Nothing in between.
Frequently asked questions
Nothing. No entry fee, no licence, no devices to buy.
A real person, on a real calendar
Two minutes of your assembly.
That's the whole ask. Register the school and we'll do the rest.
Register the school