The Kipapps Hackathon took place this weekend, in which a shortlist of 7 carefully selected developers (with 10 apps) battled it out to become the winner of the Kipokezi Apps Challenge. The event spanned the weekend 4th-6th May and took place at the iHub, Nairobi.
ForgetMeNot Africa’s Kipokezi Apps Challenge (Kipapps) aimed to create sustainable employment through technology in Kenya. In partnership with iHub and Safaricom, Kenyan developers were encouraged to create new ‘apps’ utilising the ForgetMeNot Africa Optimiser Platform.
The launch event and workshops took place 24th-27th March and involved a presentation from John Carroll (ForgetMeNot founder and Director of Technology), as well as one on one discussions with prospective developers. Exciting apps were developed to the Kipokezi platform and submitted until 20th April, to be reviewed by the FMNA team before a shortlist for the Hackathon on 27th April was announced.
Developers worked together with mentors to refine their apps
In the Kipapps Hackathon, shortlisted developers worked with mentors from ForgetMeNot Africa, iHub and Safaricom to polish their apps, and create a unique business case. All of the developers presented their business case and code to the Kipapps judging panel, who in turn meticulously reviewed each App within a confined judging criteria.
Business cases were presented in front of a Kipapps judging panel
Each developer put forward a strong case as to why their app should win. Bosco Wambua presented his Ujingani jokes app, as well as his addictive Numberfacts app which allows users to access a huge database of number-specific facts at the send of an SMS. Eventual runner-up David Lemayian (above) presented on his Kenya Premier League app, suggesting that access to fixtures, news, standings would cater for football fans without internet capabilities.The KaziPlatform app submitted by Mwema Jacob aimed to give skilled workers a channel in which to advertise their expertise and get work. Elvis Bando provided innovation in his malaria diagnosis app (Zahanati), whilst Anthony Musyoki announced an SMS-saver, and a message forwarding app.
After careful deliberation however, the judging panel came to a decision that Nick Hargreaves’ team would be the winners who would take home an iPad, $2000, and (more importantly) the opportunity to launch their app on the Safaricom network. Their winning app ‘Tokelezea’ is an SMS app that allows people to find upcoming events by event type and location. Users can create events, browse events in their area, and even invite their friends (through email) to attend. This helps users find the right events to attend and reduces the need to rely on word of mouth or sparsely distributed posters.
The winning 'Tokelezea' team (centre) with mentors from FMNA, and Safaricom
All of the shortlisted developers received T-Shirts provided by Safaricom, whilst the winning team and runner up (David Lemayian) received brand new Safaricom LG android phones. ForgetMeNot Africa would like to thank all entrants for making this such a tightly fought contest and extend a congratulations to the winning Tokelezea team.
For more information on ForgetMeNot Africa Apps Challenges please click here, or join the Facebook group for FMN Developers.
Tags: Apps Challenge, Hackathon, iHub, KIPAPPS, Kipokezi
