They include ideas that range from mobile banking applications and social interactive applications to online game applications promoting South African culture.
With prizes valued at R5 million worth of support for ICT solutions to problems in the city of Joburg, the #Hack.Jozi Challenge drew huge interest from digital entrepreneurs. Short video entries were submitted, which included digital solutions to problems such as access to health care, affordable education and even security in our homes. The common thread was using technology to help each finalist's community.
Zolani Matebese, the head of broadband at the City of Johannesburg, said that the #Hack.Jozi Challenge is a boot camp for start-up entrepreneurs. "It was a gruelling task to go through all the applications to select our final group, but it was worth it. Our aim is to contribute towards fostering skills, innovation and entrepreneurship in the broad area of digital technology by helping start-ups at the pre-seed stage," he said.
The #Hack.Jozi Challenge is an initiative between the City of Johannesburg and the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) at Wits University.
The aim of the initiative is to accelerate visionary entrepreneurs in the ICT sector. "We are doing this because ICT is central to improved productivity, economic growth and job creation. We have excellent business and research capacity, which, combined with the fact that we are a young city with a young population, create the perfect environment for us to develop advanced ICT products and services," said Ravi Naidoo, Executive Director for Economic Development, which oversees the Challenge Fund and other similar city programmes.
Continued Matebese: "Award winners will leverage IBM's Bluemix, a cloud-based platform. There are also training partners like Seed Academy. We have a number of stakeholders coming together to make a difference."
The winners will be hosted and mentored in Jozi's new digital innovation hub in the heart of Braamfontein, where they will have access to various resources, mentors, advisors as well as partners to make their vision of helping their community a reality. The Hub is an initiative hosted by Wits University under the leadership of Professor Barry Dwolatzky.
Entrepreneurs selected for the challenge will participate in a month-long process, run by Seed Academy, consisting of intensive business training, technical hackathons and a demo day where the winners will be required to demonstrate their business value proposition.
Once selected, award winners will receive membership of the digital innovation hub plus technical support and mentorship. The final award winners will also receive one year free hosting credit for their business applications from IBM.
For more, go to hackjozichallenge.co.za
