MTN Uganda has today announced that application to its MTN Innovation Awards 2017 is open. The awards are seeking to recognize both mobile and web-based applications developed by Ugandans.
The winners will be crowned at the awards gala to take place on the 8th of November. For each category, the winner will walk away with $3,000, which is three times the amount each winner walked away with, in 2015 - when the first awards were held.
The categories under which one interested in participating can submit their application include Best Health application, Best Education application, Best Financial Services application, Best SME application, Best Agriculture application, and Best Media and Entertainment application. The awards will also recognize the Outstanding Woman in Innovation, Innovation Achiever of the Year and Most Innovative Mobile App. Olivier
Olivier Prentout, the Chief Marketing Officer MTN Uganda said that the awards stressed that recognizing and promoting local innovations is critical to MTN’s vision to lead the delivery of a bold, new digital world for MTN customers and the communities where we operate.
“Technology is becoming an enabler in almost every sector of Uganda’s economy. In health, technology is leading to solutions on prevention. In education, people are coming up with ideas to ease the learning process. In financial services, technology is improving financial inclusion,” he said.
This is the 2nd edition of the MTN Innovation Awards. The first awards were held in 2015, with 8 projects being awarded for their outstanding contribution to society. “The contribution to society is measured by impact, especially in the long-term. Additionally, we are looking at positioning Uganda as having the innovation space and skilled individuals that can compete on the global stage,” Prentout added.
For anyone interested in applying should, however, note that this year's awards are placing emphasis on applications that have been in operation since 2014.
In 2015, when the awards were first held, the winners included, ClinicMaster, BrainShare, Yo! Payments Gateway, Intelligent Works, Outbox, Fezah, Lyndsay Handler of ReadyPay - Outstanding Woman in Innovation and Solomon King of FundiBots - Innovation achiever of the year.
One of the winners, ClinicMaster was recently among the startups that toured Europe with other startups from across the African continent in a tour dubbed the Pitch Drive that was organized by Nigeria's Co-creation Hub and Google for Entrepreneurs.
Click here to apply.