Etisalat Announces Winners of Application Contest At AfricaCom

Etisalat, last week, announced winners of its Pan-African Prize for Innovation in Mobile Application contest in far-away South Africa, during the 2013 AfricaCom conference in Cape Town, South AfricA. The announcement, which was made at an Award and Gala Night, organised by Informa Telecoms and sponsored by PCCW Global, Etisalat Nigeria, MTN, among other sponsors, saw Genii Games and Efiwe Mobile Application emerged as winners of the second edition of the 'Etisalat Pan-African Prize for Innovation' organised by Etisalat Nigeria.
The 'Etisalat Prize for Innovation' was awarded in two categories: The first prize of $25, 000 for the most innovative product and service was presented to Genii Games (Asa), a growing collection of interactive culture teaching mobile app for African children, and a second prize of $10,000 for the most innovative idea was presented to Efiwe Mobile application, a social education network that provides a simulated learning environment with in-depth resources in every field of study and subject of study. Speaking on the success of the second edition of the competition which witnessed several entries for the two award categories, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher, explained that the competition was instituted to provide the opportunity for ingenious people to present innovative and relevant mobile broadband products/services and ideas.
According to him, "We are delighted at the creativity shown by all the entries and this is a clear indication of the importance of broadband in Africa. Innovative broadband projects, products and services have improved the way we live and work and so we launched this award last year because we realise the importance of broadband in the industry. Innovation is core to our business strategy at Etisalat Nigeria and we see ourselves as a young and innovative business setting the pace for others in the Nigerian telecommunications industry".
The Etisalat Pan-African Prize for Innovation featured a high-level judging panel representing business, telecommunications, entrepreneurship and network development. They reviewed the entries and established a final shortlist of four nominees in the two categories. Organisers of the 6th Annual AfricaCom Awards, commended Etisalat for organising and sponsoring such software application competition, and for announcing the winners at AfricaCom. The price money will help the developers to further strengthen their applications and make them competitive and marketable.