Ghana: Airtel launches app challenge

The challenge, which is a partnership between Bharti Airtel, Smartphone Company Samsung and a Singaporean telecommunications company, Singtel, sought to attract and nurture the "next big app developers" into the Airtel Group of Companies.

The five month app challenge would see participants develop consumer-centric mobile applications that would leverage on mobile network services, mobile, data, carrier billing, location and SMS the Data Director of Airtel Ghana, John Claude Domilongo Bope, said.

He said the competition reaffirms the company's belief in empowering people, and that Airtel Ghana was on a mission to an environment that unearths the power of potential, drives, technology innovation, and attracts top tier talent.

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Announcing the app contest in Accra last week, Domilongo Bope said: "The App Challenge is another example of Airtel Ghana's innovation drive, and evidence of its belief in the power of potential, a belief that everyone is imbued with the spirit to succeed."

"This initiative is a great opportunity for developers in Ghana to come up with innovative mobile applications that directly touch individual consumer needs, to be deployed across the network of one of the biggest global telecom brands," he added.

The app challenge represented an amazing opportunity for young individuals to be placed in a productive situation, where they can unleash their knowledge at solving real problems, Hanna Agbozo, the Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Airtel Ghana, said.

As a company that has committed itself to leading this age of technological advancement, she said, Airtel had created this competition as a means of "identifying and grooming world class app developers who will lead the change in this era."

Who can participate?

The competition is open to all developers resident in Ghana, according to the organisers, and that it lasts for five months. The deadline for apps submission is 5 September, 2015, after which the winner would be announced on 15 September. For more information on how to apply, and the criteria for app selections, please visit www.app.airtellive.com.

Under the partnership with Singtel and Samsung, Airtel Africa will provide all operational support by running the campaign promotions, while Singtel and Samsung, together, will organise a two-day mentorship programme for the regional winners, and the finale in November 2015.