After going through several selection stages, the winners of the Blue Tech Challenge organized by Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) have been rewarded.
The 30 finalists divided into four categories namely: Blue Academic Innovation, Blue Star, Blue Tech Women and Handi Blue are taking home; FCFA 13.100.000, FCFA 5.260.000, FCFA 3,020.000 and FCFA 3.520.000 respectively per category.
The award ceremony took place on Wednesday 02 October 2024 in Yaounde and was chaired by the General Manager of CAMTEL, Judith Yah Sunday epse Achidi.
The aim of the challenge was to highlight opportunities in Cameron's digital space and Judith Yah explained that the Blue Tech Challenge was much more than a competition, "it is a show-case for digital excellence made in Cameroon" she added.
Talking to the guests, the CAMTEL GM said the finals aimed to "honour innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial skills of Cameroonian youths”.
The GM also added that "it is through such initiatives that we will continue to push our nation towards digital excellence in the world".
Promoter of Camer Startup Hub, Christian Sesame, in charge of managing the competition indicated that all the selected projects reflected the spirit of inclusion.
"All the projects are unique with each having potentials to transform our society" Sesame said at the event. He added that "we organized two digital boot camps to better drill the candidates and CAMTEL provided its technical expertise to the exercise".
Enter the Challenge
CAMTEL, Other officials in family photo
The Blue Tech Challenge was launched May 21, 2024 as part of the activities to mark the CAMTEL's 25th anniversary.
The contest was divided into four categories. The 'Blue Star Challenge' aimed at celebrating the best digital tech startups in Cameroon, 'Blue Tech Innovation Award' for students in Universities and higher Institutes of learning, 'Blue Tech Women Award' a special prize for the best women-led startups, and the 'Handi Blue Award' for persons with disabilities.
After numerous entries for the challenge, some 289 projects were retained for the competition and 30 qualified for the finals in all the different categories.
On the day of the finals, the candidates presented their projects Infront of a jury made up of experts from government ministries and institutions in Cameroon.
According to the president of the jury, Technical Adviser No 1 at CAMTEL, Francis Ottou, the selection process was free, fair and transparent as "all the candidates were given equal chances" he said.
The winners
"Lina", a mobile application that helps in the mobility of visually impaired persons. The brain behind the project, Hessack Ryan explained that it was an eye glass with a camera on it that captures images which it processes and transmits the information to the user in audio form.
Megaptech Djambou Grace won the special prize for women-led projects "Blue Tech Women" through her project "SolarSync".
The "Blue Star award" was won by Afopezi Anua-gueleh Moses with the project "AgricFresh".
The "E-Farm" project by Nkwambi Treasure Bah, a student from IUT Ngaoundere grabbed the "Blue Academic Innovation award" designed for students in Universities and higher Institutes.
By
Bizel-Bi Mafor
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