Pivot 25 launches the East African Mobile Developer Challenge

In the past month, TNW Africa has done several features on opportunities in Africa’s mobile sector and its ability to transform the way Africans go about their daily lives in various areas ranging from agriculture to governance.

In a bid to further spur innovation in the continent’s mobile sector, Pivot 25, (an Mlab initiative) is set to spotlight East Africa’s mobile developer and entrepreneur community this June by launching the East African Mobile Developer Challenge in Nairobi, Kenya. (The Mlab is an East African incubator made up of a consortium of member organizations namely, eMobilis, the World Wide Web Foundation, the University of Nairobi School of Computing and Informatics and the iHub).

The competition aims to give companies the opportunity to showcase their applications to operators, Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and the ICT community at large, and at the same time get the chance win prize money for their applications. Up to $75,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the winning applications. In addition, the overall winner will have the chance to present at Demo – the launchpad for emerging technology in Silicon Valley.

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Already, the contest has selected its top 25 applications from submissions garnered from all over East Africa.  Below are the list of apps that made the preliminary cut:

Mobile Payments and Commerce Apps

1. Kopo Kopo Inc
2. Jamobi
3. Zege Technologies (mPayer)
4. Nyaruka (Bizito)
5. M-Shop

Entertainment, Gaming and Utilities Apps

1. Websimba Ltd (Eat Out Mobile)
2. Sakanya
3. Space Kenya Networks Ltd (Whive)
4. Tuvitu
5. MySocialMobile

Business and Enterprise Apps

1. Pluspeople Kenya Ltd. (Uhasibu)
2. Bongo Live
3. NikoHapa
4. Kenya Methodist University (EasyParking)
5. WapiDiscount

Government, Agriculture and Education focused apps

1. mfarm Limited (m-farm)
2. Mobile Crop Disease Surveillance System
3. Campus 101
4. SchoolSMS Premium
5. HeHe Limited (Gahunda)

Healthcare focused apps

1. BTI Millman Limited
2. M-Chanjo
3. Sharper Innovations (Pregnancy App.)
4. Shimba Technologies Ltd (MEDKenya)
5. Techne Craft Solutions Limited (M-ARV)

An impressive list of speakers will be keynoting at the event such as Ushahidi co-Founder, Erik Hersman and Kamal Budhabhatti, C.E.O of Craft Silicon.

The contest is sponsored by Nokia, Google, the World Wide Web Foundation and infoDev amongst others.

For more information on event registration, dates and contest details, click here.