Winners emerge in Orange Data for Development Challenge 2014/2015

ITRealms:

 

Orange has announced the winners of this year’s Data for Development (D4D) Challenge in Senegal which ran from 2014 to April 2015 in conjunction with Sonatel and Orange under the patronage of the Senegalese Ministry of Higher Education and Research, ITRealms reports.

The winners of the challenge, University of Manchester and the Santa Fe Institute, ITRealms learnt clinched the first prize of US$5000.00 (approximately 995,000.00 Naira), for using mobile phone data for electrification planning, with support from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop.

The challenge as gathered by ITRealms was organised around five core questions and themes relating to health, agriculture, transportation/urban planning, energy and national statistics; identified with the Senegalese Ministries or partner institutions, and designed specifically to challenge organisations to produce solutions for the purpose of societal development and the welfare of the population in Senegal.

Special consideration was also awarded for progress made in data sciences, anonymisation, big data ethics and to foster greater involvement with local organisations and promote education in this growing field.

Other prizes as learnt by ITRealms went as follows; Agriculture Prize for Genesis of millet prices in Senegal; Health Prize for Uncovering the impact of human mobility on schistosomias; National Statistics Prize for Virtual Networks and Poverty Analysis in Senegal; Transport Prize for National and Regional Road Network Optimisation for Senegal; Scientific and Ethics Mention price for Construction of socio-demographic indicators with digital breadcrumbs; Data Crossing Prize for Using mobile phone data for Spatial Planning simulation and Optimisation Technologies (SPOT); Data Visualisation Prize for O05, Data for Development Reloaded: Visual Matrix Techniques for the Exploration and Analysis of Massive Mobile Phone Data, and Practical Application Prize for Mobile Data as Public-Health Decision Enabler.

The competition as gathered by ITRealms was overseen by an External Ethics Panel comprising twelve members from across academia, business, public and non-profit organisations and the final winning entries were selected by the D4D Committee.

Daniel Nsolibe/GEE

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Microsoft Nigeria unveils Cloudprenuer academy, application opens

ITRealms

Microsoft Nigeria has unveiled Cloudpreneur, a startup academy with ISO 27018 Cloud Privacy Certification, even as the applications for the Cloudpreneur Project opens today, Friday 20th of March through Sunday 19th of April 2015, ITRealms.

These were disclosed at a media parley in Lagos by officials of Microsoft Nigeria, noting, there are more than 4 million youths that are out of school and jobless, hence the company wants to assist them using cloud technology to make them Microsoft cloud marketers, with support from Faith Foundation and Maramentors. 

Kabelo Makwane, Managing Director of Microsoft Nigeria informed ITRealms that at the end of the project, the 20 best performing participants will receive mentorship to manage their own profitable businesses based on Cloud technology.

“Microsoft is committed to improving youth skills for both entrepreneurship and employability across Africa. Our efforts in Nigeria started with the launch of the Employability Portal in 2013, which provides a platform for youth to learn leadership skills and network with other leaders. Now through the Cloudpreneur Project, we hope to enable and empower young business owners, so that they can contribute to the social and economic growth of Nigeria,” he said.

The Project, he explained will be open to 1,000 applicants who have been in business for 1 – 3 years. From these applications, 100 successful participants will be chosen. These participants will receive a four-week long training on business management, including training on: sales, technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, communication and start-ups management. Following this, 30 of these 100 participants will be provided with startup models and, finally, the top 20 performers will be mentored on how to build their own Cloud-based business.

“Cloud technology has the potential to transform competitiveness amongst startups and SMEs, which is why we’re encouraging adoption of the Cloud through this Project,” adds Kabelo. “It delivers easier access to IT, slashes costs, improves productivity and enables more agile, innovative business models, where everything startups need can be accessed and done on the web anywhere, anytime and off any device.”

The Executive Director, Fate Foundation, Habiba Balogun said “Fate Foundation is delighted to partner and support Microsoft in its Cloudpreneur initiative which aims to empower entrepreneurs in the Tech-related business to not only improve and hone their skills and knowledge via an intensive training under the assured guidance of Microsoft but also to be equipped to run successful businesses and create employment via Fate Foundation's proven Entrepreneurship Training. Technological Innovation translated into economic activity is the future for Nigeria and we commend Microsoft for being part of enabling wealth creation in Nigeria.” She said. 

A similar initiative, known as the Cloud Startup Academy, was launched by Microsoft, the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Morocco (AFEM) and INWI in Morocco in June 2014. The Academy takes 50 Moroccan women through a six-month programme, where they receive accelerated training on the Cloud to help them launched Cloud-based solutions. While the Academy is open only to women – particularly young graduates and job seekers – the Cloudpreneur Project is open to both male and female startups across Nigeria.

“Mara Mentor is proud to bring our expertise in entrepreneurship support and mentorship to the Cloudpreneurs Project,” says Hetal Shah, Director of Operations at Mara. “As an initiative focused on enabling, empowering and inspiring entrepreneurs, we believe this is an opportunity for young Nigerians in technology to get the training, support, and mentorship needed to build or grow cloud-based businesses.” 

“It is pertinent that young people embrace the culture entrepreneurship in line with global trends, and with increasing wave of cloud computing, Mara Mentor is happy to partner with Microsoft to empower cloud-based entrepreneurs and their ideas,” he adds.

Correspondent/GEE   

 

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