Razahk Issaka (middle) receiving his prize
Razahk Issaka emerged as overall winner of this year’s MTN Apps Challenge V 5.0 at a colourful ceremony in Accra.
He won the keenly contested challenge after creating an app called ‘Man Must Chop,’ and for his effort MTN rewarded him with GH¢200,000.
In the Senior High School category, Presbyterian Boys Senior High School emerged as the winner, while Edinaman Senior High School and Keta Senior High placed second and third respectively.
Other winners included Memoria for Education Category, Sario App (Lifestyle), TransGov (Enterprise Category), Atsu (Games and Entertainment), Kaya App (Best female project) and Traffic Smart Control System (Internet of Things (IoT).
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the MTN Apps Challenge Version 5.0 on Wednesday, June 27 at the MTN House in Accra, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) MTN Ghana, Noel Kojo–Ganson, said the leading telecoms firm is committed to creating opportunities for growth and development for everyone.
He said his outfit would leverage on its vision “to lead in the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers in the creation of opportunities that would enhance growth development for all in the country.
Speaking under the theme, ‘Digital Innovation; a Tool for Youth Development,’ Mr. Kojo–Ganson expressed excitement over the competition and its impact on society.
He said after a series of road shows, more than 190 applications were received.
In total, 56 projects were received for mobile Apps, seven for Internet of Things (IoT), nine for animation videos and seven (7) SHS projects.
Seventy-two projects also came from freelance and seven projects from Senior High Schools (SHS).
According to him, the apps were reviewed by judges who took into consideration the commercial viability of the apps.
“This component of the competition is very important, because as a business we believe that the App developer community should be able to generate revenue from their inventions to sustain their businesses. It is a unique form of youth empowerment,” he posited.
The awards were presented to persons in four mobile app categories, namely (Education, Games & Entertainment, Business and Lifestyle), Animations (Entertainment Video series), IOT (Transportation and Health).
Mr. Kojo–Ganson also spoke about women empowerment in technology-based ventures.
He said, “I am happy to say that as a business, we pride ourselves in giving full and equal access to women in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Indeed, Technology and Innovation have been recognized as imperatives for achieving gender equality and empowerment for girls. In view of this, MTN is championing a project for women in technology, where young girls receive mentorship from women in ICT working in this organization.”
To buttress his point, Mr. Kojo–Ganson indicated that this year’s edition of the competition included a new category- the Best Female Developer Award Category.
This, he said, was in line with the women in ICT project.
He said “This A category that has seen the submission of some intriguing projects.”
“We believe that the sustenance of this category will lead to the contribution of resources to the filling of a wider human resource gap in STEM, a gap that indicates the need for extensive development of our human resource,” he added.
Since its inception about five years ago, the MTN Apps challenge has given several Ghanaian youth the opportunity to develop and take up challenges in the economy.
This has recorded many success stories over the years.
Setriakor Nyomi, who was the first winner with his Oware 3D, now has over 100,000 downloads.
Buzztrick, Wheelo and Amatsii are all apps that form part of the success stories and are generating income for developers and creating convenience for many.
Mr. Kojo–Ganson congratulated all the finalists and winners of the four categories.
He extended appreciation to the distinguished panel of judges for a good work done.
The MTN executive urged all app developers to continue to innovate by developing locally relevant applications to stay relevant in this fast paced digital world.
“Together, we can ensure that digital innovation for the development of the youth is not an exception but the norm,” he said.
The special guest, Farida Bedwei, a popular Ghanaian software engineer said, “Upcoming entrepreneurs and innovators should focus on solving problems and the money will come naturally.”
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio