Retail group Shoprite SA was crowned the overall winner at last night’s MTN Business App of the Year Awards 2022.
Shoprite SA won the night’s biggest prize for its Money Market account app.
The retail group also scooped the Most Innovative Solution award at the 11th instalment of the annual awards, which recognises local app development talent.
It walked away with the overall grand prize of R1 million.
Shoprite SA’s Arthur Khosa commented: “The Money Market account app is targeted at unbanked South Africa, providing customers with a low-cost bank account, which is almost free.
“There are no monthly fees, no charges for deposits and there are no hidden fees – everything about us is very transparent.
“Our mission is to uplift lives and help customers make educated financial decisions fashionable.”
Also speaking at the awards ceremony, MTN SA CEO Charles Molapisi stressed the importance of cultivating a “one household, one developer" ecosystem in the country.
“I’m going on a crusade to mobilise every CEO to drive one fundamental message that is ‘one household, one developer’ – that is what we want to drive to take our people out of poverty.
“If we can teach our people to develop programs for themselves, teach the young people of our country and mobilise them, we will be able to build a nation of developers by 2030.
“If you can develop code, you can start a business. If you can develop code, you can be an AI engineer, a cloud architect – that’s the mission I’m driving.”
Other notable winners include service delivery reporting platform My Smart City, Old Mutual’s money management app 22seven, as well as the first Afrikaans matchmaking app, Koer.
The other category winners include:
Best “South African” Solution: Safety app Eyerus scooped this award. Eyerus – a play on the word iris – is an automated algorithm mobile app, designed to provide users with personal safety and security services.
Best Hackathon Solution: YabiSaba
Best Consumer Solution: Old Mutual-backed 22seven is a budgeting app that helps users to better manage their finances by providing a complete view of all their finance-related accounts on one platform.
Best Gaming Solution and Best Educational Solution: Recess
Best Incubated Solution: LayUp Payments is a payment solution that provides shoppers with the latest recurring payment methods in the market.
Best Enterprise Solution: My SmartCity is a web and mobile app that enables residents to log calls relating to service delivery problems, including potholes, monitoring power or water outages, communicating with local municipal officials and raising a petition.
Best HealthSolution: Buzzer
Best African Solution: Angola’s Appy Saúde allows users to order, pay and receive pharmaceutical products from the main pharmacies in the central African nation. Users can also find detailed information of health establishments, including pharmacies, hospitals and clinics.
Best Agricultural Solution: AxL
Best Financial Solution:Franc, a locally-developed savings and investment app focused on the financial sector.
Best Campus Cup Solution: Notes
People’s Choice Award: Koer, the first Afrikaans mobile dating app that offers its users a worldwide pool of potential matches to choose from and select.
Best Breakthrough Developer: Chillers Market is an app that allows its users to buy and sell goods and service in a convenient and secure way.
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