Women In Technology In Nigeria (WITIN) has introduced the Mobile Apps (Technovation) Challenge. It is open for secondary school girl (ages 13-18). This challenge is part of the ITU’s Girls in ICT project & Tech Needs Girls campaign.
These young girls would work in teams of 5s to develop mobile apps, conduct market research, write business plans, and create a “pitch” for funding. Each team works with both a classroom teacher at their school and a female mentor/role model from the technology industry. WITIN will lead mentors in Nigeria who would guide teachers to train teams from now till April on how to build the apps. The training culminates in a global competition where teams compete for funding to launch their company and take their app to market.
The goal of the program is to promote women in technology by inspiring girls to see themselves not just as users of technology, but as inventors, designers, builders, and entrepreneurs in the technology industry.
Benefits
The girls are taught life skills such as how to identify a problem, design and test a solution, collaborate with a team, and communicate to different audiences. It reinforces the following academic concepts: digital representation of information, algorithmic thinking and programming, and the societal impact of information and information technology.
Prize
The winning team will be celebrated in Nigeria on April 25th(Girls in ICT Day) and will travel to the Silicon Valley California to compete globally on May 1st, 2013. The overall winner will receive $10,000 in funding and support to complete their app development and release it on the market.
In the end, Girls learn about collaboration and teamwork, important skills in the technology industry.
How to Contest
To sign up- all you need is a team of 5 girls, a computer, an android phone, and a teacher or adult to support the team.
On February 2nd, Mrs Martha Omoekpen Alade, Chairperson of Women in Technology in Nigeria will formally welcome all teams in Lagos on the “hackday” to brainstorm on starting off. Teams outside the state will participate remotely via skype or adobe connect.
Information
Women Mentors in Tech (Nigeria) are also urgently needed!!! Contact ITU if you are interested!!! For enquiries, call +2348139399635, +2348083262168 or mail [email protected]
For more information, click here.
