Township IT graduates gunning

Township IT graduates gunning for top app prize

Thirty young graduate IT developers working from garages and back rooms in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu in Cape Town are competing in the MTN SA Foundation Community App Challenge in partnership with mLab for building the best mobile apps in education and health.

Township IT graduates gunning

IT News Africa reports the challenge is aimed at empowering young IT developers who want to start their own businesses and change their communities for the better. The winners will qualify to enter the 2016 MTN Business App of the Year Awards as well as financial support towards advertisement of the winning app.

Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi, General Manager of the MTN SA Foundation says they are excited to be partnering with mLab for the MTN SA Foundation Community App Challenge. “Such initiatives support our strategic intent of creating sustainable value for our stakeholders as well as developing a force of entrepreneurs who have the right skills set to grow their business, contribute to the growth of the economy and create much-needed jobs.”

The previous winners included Voonja App – a community announcement solution, New Start App that deals with male circumcision issues and Pink Drive, an app that deals with breast and prostate cancer. Each of these apps were awarded R30,000 worth of advertising and were incubated and mentored by mLab for a year.

“We believe in building new and sustainable businesses, and this effectively shifts the MTN Community App Challenge from being merely a competition to a potential supplier development exercise,” she said.

Currently, an expert panel of judges are adjudicating the ICT prototypes of the 30 talented graduate app developers.

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