Ten Kenyan girls’ teams have been shortlisted for the 2018 Global Technovation Challenge semifinals.
They
are drawn from secondary schools across the country, with more than 80
girls’ teams making submissions to this year’s competition. The more
than 400 girls participating in this year’s event were mentored by 80
female university students.
The submissions have seen
Kenya rank fourth in global submissions, behind Spain’s 11 teams, Canada
with 13 and the US with 19 teams. The Kenyan teams were mentored by
Safaricom’s Women in Technology Initiative, which seeks to increase
women participation in Kenya’s technology sector.
“Safaricom
continues to partner with other organisations with a goal of increasing
the participation and representation of Kenyan women in the global
technology sector. The Technovation Challenge has been important in
grooming future women engineers and also showcasing Kenya as a world
innovation leader, hence our support of the initiative,” said Thibaud
Rerolle, Director – Technology, Safaricom.
Kenyan teams that made it to the semifinals include Queen Focus
from Tumaini Girls Mombasa with their Soba App that is designed to link
drug addicts to rehab centers.
High Gram from Qubaa
High School, Mombasa impressed judges with M.O.B, an education app that
aims to reduce illiteracy levels in society.
Teams
Pentatechs and G-SAS from Kaveye Girls, Kisumu presented Kuza Talent, an
App that links organizations with talented youths and E housing, an App
for finding houses to rent respectively.
Other Kenyan
teams in the semi-finals are Skylarks from Ngiya Girls, Siaya with their
sexual education App Kuwa Safe. Naitech Chix and Technovergent from
M-PESA Foundation Academy presented Abicare, a safety and care App for
people with albinism, and Smartfarmer, a commercial digital platform for
small-scale farmers.
Smartgirls from Njoro Precious
Secondary School, Nakuru made a hit with I-Mentor, while Movers and
Shakers from Mary Hill Girls, Nairobi qualified with Soko Fresh an
e-commerce store for groceries.
“The Technovation
Challenge looks to encourage girls in secondary schools around the world
to take up careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
through mentorship. In the four years that we have run the challenge in
Kenya, we have seen an increase in quality of submissions. We now see
all the girls’ team now coming up with innovations that address locally
relevant challenges,” said Anne Cheboi, Regional Ambassador,
Technovation Challenge.
The Technovation Challenge
seeks to encourage girls to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM). The challenge involves three months of mentorship,
in which teams of young women work together to design Apps and pitch
them to investors.
Teams shortlisted for the
semifinals proceed to the global finals, where the winning team walks
away with Sh1,500,000 in funding for further App development.
The top two teams from Africa will be awarded $10,000 and $5,000 in scholarships.
The top two teams from Africa will be awarded $10,000 and $5,000 in scholarships.
Two
Kenyans teams have previously emerged among the top submissions
globally with Precious Blood Girls emerging second in 2016 with a bus
booking app. In 2017, Kisumu Girls made it to the finals with an app
that seeks to combat genital mutilation.
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