Hundreds of local app developers will be taking part in the first ever virtual MTN Business Hackathon this weekend. Their mission? To design app solutions to solve some of South Africa’s unique social challenges.
Whether to further enable education by creating a platform for school principals to log issues for the attention of the Department, an app to log, track and geolocate broken street lights, or a health solution which enables ambulances to be requested, dispatched and tracked, South Africa has a host of problems and challenges that need solutions.
The hackathon comes at the culmination of the inaugural MTN Business App Academy, a six-week virtual coding programme which took place over the last two months. This programme saw hundreds of budding developers being tutored by experts on every aspect of app development, from design patterns, lifecycles and security to navigation, hybrid authentication and geo-location services.
“We saw this first-of-its-kind learning platform as another opportunity to drive digital education and innovation across South Africa and prepare our future game-changers for a career in app development. Encouraging and empowering tech savvy entrepreneurs, especially the youth comes at a time when upskilling the entrepreneurs of tomorrow has never been more important,” says Kholo Magagane, head of marketing at MTN SA Business. “2020 has certainly highlighted the vital role that digital technology plays in helping people to earn a living, pivot and communicate.”
While this year sees the MTN Business App Academy and subsequent hackathon taking place for the first time, this is the ninth consecutive year of the MTN Business App of the Year Awards.
“Technology is a great equaliser. The App Academy, hackathon and annual MTN Business App of the Year Awards all play a vital role in elevating local entrepreneurs to showcase exciting new innovations within the ICT industry in South Africa. Enabling future entrepreneurs within the digital space not only helps to alleviate youth unemployment but also contributes to solving real world problems,” says Magagane.
Solutions developed during the MTN Business Hackathon will be judged according to various criteria including functionality and whether it fulfils its purpose in a basic, understandable and user-friendly way.
App design, app features, user experience including ease of navigation as well as whether it makes business sense for its target market will all be assessed.
Participation in the hackathon is open to MTN Business App Academy graduates, budding champions in app development from around the country and talented out-of-the-box thinkers with a passion to create digital solutions.
Solutions developed will stand a chance of being entered into the annual MTN Business App of the Year Awards for a share of R 100 000 in prize money, with this year’s awards ceremony adopting a virtual format at the end of October.