The team of Egerton University graduates who came up with a mobile-based web application that allows youth to access campus news on their mobile phones won the 2014 Safaricom Appwiz Challenge. Now in its second year, the Appwiz is an annual challenge that seeks to identify and develop mobile technology based companies.
The winning solution, named Magazine Reel, compiles news stories and notices from university administration campuses and presents them in an easy-to-read format. “While there are many people who still wait to watch the news every evening and read newspapers every morning, studies have shown that there are many tech-savvy youth who would rather access the news content on the go through their smart devices,” said Joseph Ogutu, the Director for Strategy and Innovation at Safaricom. “Through the Safaricom Appwiz Challenge, we support young entrepreneurs interested in establishing Mobile and ICT start-ups in Kenya through mentorship, training and rapid product development.”
Magazine Reel has over 250,000 page views monthly and over 5,000 daily users. Plans are already afoot to have it on the on Safaricom’s App Store. Start-ups participating in this year’s Safaricom Appwiz competition were required to develop solutions under five categories namely Mobile for Good and Community Development; Smart Business and Cloud Innovation; Financial Inclusion; Youth, Entertainment, Games and Media; and Infrastructure and Utilities.
Guide Rig, a communication and marketing solution for businesses, won in the Smart Business and Cloud Innovation category and were the overall runners up in the challenge. Other category winners were Ujirani, a community-based security application, in the Mobile for Good and Community Development category, while Infrastructure and Utilities category award went to Smart Travel, which provides motorists with road information and helps them know whether they have exceeded their alcohol limit per sitting.
The overall winner took home Sh1.7 million, while the runners up were awarded Sh1.2 million. Category winners were each rewarded with Sh200,000.
