MTN Ghana Apps Competition Encourages Ghanaian Developers
The MTN Apps Challenge Version 2.0 competition ended at a
ceremony in Accra where deserving App developers in Ghana received awards for
their innovative mobile Apps. In a challenge which has been described by the
developer community as one of the most highly contested, Buzztrick emerged as the overall winner of the competition.
Buzztrick is a new and
exciting social content aggregation and lifestyle app that is designed to enrich
the life of the smartphone user with an alternative approach to how they access
everyday information. The app keeps you up-to-date with all the day’s
happenings, from the latest news and the hottest events, to the most exciting
places around you. Buzztrick's advanced #tag based aggregation system enables
you keep up with specific content that might be of relevance to you via the
”Channel” feature.
The App was developed by myApp Inc. an organization
established by a team of fresh graduates from Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST), whose objective is to research new technology
trends and adopt them to improve their work. The team is made up of three
gentlemen namely Elvis Agah, Henk
Pieterson Oppong and Nana Ekow Taylor.
For their prize, the
winning team received a cash amount of GHC 20,000, a plaque, a certificate and
an all-expense paid trip to a telecoms conference.
Other app developers
emerged Gold winners of the various categories of the competition , receiving
cash prizes of GH₵15,000 each, a Plaque, a certificate and 1GB data for 12
months. They include: Isaac Onwukwe and Wilfred Attipoe with their app, Tales
of Hassan topping the Games & Entertainment category; Elvis Agah, Nana Ekow
Taylor, Henk Oppong with their Buzztrick app emerging as the Lifestyle Category
Gold Winners; and Lovell Larbie, developer of the Wodaakye app, as Gold Winner
for the Education category.
The MTN Apps Challenge
Version 2.0 was launched in October 2014 to discover and reward local app
developers who entered locally relevant apps in the areas of Education,
Lifestyle, and Games & Entertainment.
A total of 100 entries
were received, and reviewed by a panel of judges made up of experienced
personalities from academia, mobile development and the telecoms industry. They
shortlisted the app entries, to the top 20, using selection criteria based on
innovation, functionality and commercial relevance.
In a speech read on
his behalf at the awards ceremony by MTN Ghana Corporate Services Executive
Cynthia Lumor, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Serame Taukobong,
reiterated the importance of apps development to the world’s economy. He said
MTN had noticed a significant improvement in the quality of Apps received and
this was an indication that the app developer community in Ghana was seeing
growth. He congratulated the winners of the challenge and called on Ghanaians
to embrace the new Apps.
The guest speaker for
the occasion, Mrs. Dorothy Gordon, Executive Director of the Kofi Annan ICT
Center of Excellence, commended MTN for supporting the app developer community
in Ghana and Africa as a whole. She lauded the MTN Apps Challenge initiative
and urged MTN to endeavor to bring all the apps developed in their various
markets together to build a very vibrant app developer community for Africa.
The winning apps:
‘Buzztrick’, ‘Tales of Hassan’ and ‘Wodaakye’ will be uploaded on the MTNPlay
platform as well as the devices of MTN’s mobile device partners, Tecno and
Huawei. Customers are encouraged to visit and download the apps to have a feel
of the ingenuity of our local app developers.
MTN remains committed
to leading in enhancing the capacity of individuals in a bold new digital
world.
Contact:
Cynthia Lumor (Mrs.)
Corporate Services Executive
Tel: 024 4300 000
Accra
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