- The country’s best digital developer stands a chance to win a R1 million cash prize.
- Aspirant tech gurus are invited to submit their entries for the MTN Business App of the Year Awards, now in its 11th successive year. The MTN Business App of the Year Awards define a mindset of innovation, with the campaign growing even bigger and better each year.
The competition provides innovators an opportunity to showcase their skills in the technology space and ensures they get recognised. Previous winners have gone on to launch their apps internationally, been acquired by blue-chip corporates and have become well-known South African digital products in their own rights.
The prize money for the country’s best digital developers will remain R1 million.
The awards also continue to keep pace with change and continue to drive support for young innovators. The “Best Campus Cup Solution”, for instance, is open to students currently enrolled at accredited tertiary education facilities, universities, TVET colleges and institutions, and incubation hubs.
The MTN Business App Academy is a free NQF Level 5 SETA accredited online app development programme, where participants will be mentored and tutored by experts in the field, ensuring that participants are upskilled for a future career in app development. The App Academy has two levels, the basic level and intermediate level, and each level has an NQF qualification level. The “Best African Solution” profiles app developers and coders from the rest of the continent. To qualify, competitors must be living outside of SA, but within an African country, and their app needs to be developed locally within their region. MTN Business is encouraging more participation in this category.
“While we provide the connectivity and the partnership, it is these innovators who provide the ideas, the apps and the solutions that the African continent and the world needs. Together, we can help change our country and communities through passion and innovation. Being a telco has been our traditional business for years and journeying towards a tech-co is taking us into the future. We are moving into building leading digital solutions to benefit Africa, our continent,” says Kholofelo Magagane, Head of Marketing at MTN Business.
MTN’s recent acquisition of additional spectrum will greatly enhance access to enable coders and developers to create the solutions consumers and businesses need to progress.
Last year, the Ambani Africa app took first place at the awards. Ambani Africa also won the Best Gaming Solution, Best Educational and Best South African Solution categories.
“The opportunities really are endless, as endless as South Africans’ imaginations, and their determination to overcome every obstacle in their path with passion and creative energy. We would like to see more new entrants and fresh talent taking part in this year’s MTN Business App of the Year competition,” says Magagane. The 2022 MTN Business App of the Year Awards categories are:
- Best Consumer Solution
- Best Enterprise Solution
- Most Innovative Solution
- Best Gaming Solution
- Best Health Solution
- Best Agricultural Solution
- Best Educational Solution
- Best Financial Solution
- Best Hackathon Solution
- Best “South African” Solution
- Best Campus Cup Solution
- Best African Solution
The Huawei Category 15, meanwhile, is reserved for apps that were developed for the Huawei App Gallery, are HMS compatible or have integrated an HMS toolkit.
“Everyone deserves the benefits of a more connected life, which is why MTN Business continues to spearhead digital transformation through its continued sponsorship of the MTN Business App of the Year Awards. This platform continues year on year to uncover and celebrate local technology talent and out-of-the-box thinking that drives disruption and change. This is how MTN Business is changing the future of our continent: a developer ecosystem that provides opportunities for our youth and solutions for our people,” concludes Magagane.
Entries for the awards close on Monday, 9 September, after which the judging panel will start the shortlisting process. The hybrid awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, 13 October 2022.
Click on the link to submit your entries: https://www.appoftheyear.co.za/submit/
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MTN South Africa
Launched in 1994, MTN South Africa is a subsidiary of MTN Group, a leading emerging market operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers. We are inspired by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code ‘MTN’. Our strategy is Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.
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