NOKIA AND MICROSOFT JOIN FORCES TO EMPOWER LOCAL TALENT WITH THE MIDNIGHT DEVELOPER CHALLENGE

Winners of the on-going Nokia and Microsoft’s mobile app development competition will be announced on May 6^th 2013.

The competition dubbed The Midnight Developer Challenge is aimed at providing university students with exposure and training in the latest mobile and app development technologies. The challenge will see university students from 25 Africa (Kenya included) and Middle East countries come up with the next big mobile app idea. Some of the African countries taking part include Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

The final submissions for the competition are expected to close this Thursday and the apps need to be published by mid-next month. The competition was launched in December last year and the participating students have been receiving advanced technical training and coding sessions with Nokia and Microsoft software experts through weekly webinars and dedicated online support to help them conceptualize their ideas.

 

Both Nokia and Microsoft have been working closely with the universities to ensure faculty support is provided for students who entered the competition.

Commenting on the competition, Head of Developer Experience, Nokia IMEA Joe Devassy said the challenge is providing students an opportunity to get real life experience in designing, developing and distributing a mobile app for consumers in an emerging app economy.

"We designed this competition to maximize the learning process of this entrepreneurial journey - that is, how to go from an abstract idea to a fully-developed Windows Phone 8 app available to millions of consumers worldwide," he added.

"This initiative, which empowers young local talent with world-class opportunities to develop and learn about the latest advances in mobile app technology, is testament to our commitment to the region. Windows Phone 8 is a great mobile platform and there is immense opportunity for developers to leverage and utilise the innovative features of the Nokia Lumia range including augmented reality navigation, NFC and imaging," said Amintas Lopes Neto, Academia and Startups Lead, Microsoft MEA.

The contest is divided into two categories - Apps and Games. Each category will have a winner and a runners-up prize. The winning team will walk away with $10,000, a trip to a Nokia Global event, plus an XBOX and Lumia 920 for each team member. The runner-up team will receive $5,000, an XBOX and a Lumia 920 for each team member.

Additionally there will be a People's Choice category, whereby the winner will receive $3,000 plus an XBOX and a Lumia 920 for each team member. Participants of The Midnight Developer Challenge also have the opportunity to be eligible to participate in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2013 Windows Phone Challenge - a high level global Window Phone app development contest organised by Microsoft.

Teams of up to three members were required to register online for The Midnight Developer Challenge. The apps and games must be developed using the newly released Windows Phone 8 SDK (Software Development Kit).

P&G AND CARE ANNOUNCE COMMITMENT TO PROVIDE 100 MILLION LITERS OF CLEAN DRINKING WATER THROUGH INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIP

Over 18,000 thousand families have been provided with clean safe drinking water through Procter & Gamble’s Purifier of Water (formerly Pur) and Care Kenya’s Safe Water system program in Nyanza province reducing the occurrence of water borne diseases in the region.

 

This follows an earlier commitment by the two organizations to provide 100 million liters of clean safe drinking water in Kenya and Ethiopia through an investment of over $1 million dollars. The Safe Water System (SWS) is an inexpensive program of providing safe water at point of use through treatment, safe storage and behavior change. The system makes use of the P&G Purifier of Water sachet is a powdered mixture which purifies previously dirty and turbid water making it safe for drinking. SWS has so far provided  over 3.5 million sachets of P&G purifier of water supplies translating to 35,571,180 liters of safe drinking water to communities in Siaya, Gem, Ugunja and Ugenya and reaching out to  over 18,000 families.

 

Procter & Gamble Brand PR Manager Ms. Irene Mwathi said that the program continues to focus efforts on provision of clean drinking water through partnerships like the CARE schools program.

 

“Introducing the P&G Purifer of Water to children through school programs has a dramatic impact on the community-  the children are educated and empowered at an early age. They then take the benefits of  that knowledge back to their  home to their families. By investing in children, we enable them to make a difference every day in their communities,” said Ms. Mwathi.

 

The P&G program dubbed ‘Children’s Safe Drinking Water’ (CSDW) program was initiated in Kenya in 2006 to provide a solution to communities living in areas with water sources that are turbid. The program works with various implementing partners such as PSI and Care. In executing this particular program, CARE trains two teachers in each school as patrons of the program responsible for teaching improved hygiene behaviors, including hand washing, either directly or through school hygiene clubs. P&G then provides the sachets used to purify the water. The program provides over 17,000 liters of clean drinking water each day to students and their families.

 

"P&G and CARE have brought us a solution to our water problem, said Mr. Michael Ochieng Limbe, Head Teacher at Wambusa Primary School. “We are very pleased that now we have healthy school children free of dysentery.” Wambusa Primary is one of the 20 schools in the program.

 

An evaluation of the program identified a reduction in school absenteeism of more than 25 percent and because students took the messages home, there was nearly a 3-fold increase in household water treatment.

 

“P&G purifier of water is a simple, affordable and convenient   way to bring clean water to people,” explains Project Manager, Care Kenya. “CARE uses the P&G Purifer of Water packets to bring safe drinking water to homes, provide clean water to school children and help expectant mothers stay healthy and help prevent the spread of disease in Kenya, including HIV/AIDS.” He added “They are also an important part of our global emergency response programs”.

 

P&G’s collaboration supports CARE’s distribution of the water purification packets to reach over 350,000 people through community-based programs in schools and clinics in Kenya .

 

“The work being done through this partnership is a perfect example of our company’s Purpose in action,” said Ms. Mwathi. “P&G improves the lives of Kenyans through its innovative brands, dedicated employees, and educational and social programs made possible by partnership with others."

 

School, clinic and community programs are part of P&G’s long-term commitment to save one life every hour by providing clean drinking water around the world. These efforts were most recently recognized when P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program won the 2012 Economist Social Innovation Award for delivering more than 5 billion liters of clean drinking water to families in developing countries, helping save nearly 30,000 lives. The program has also received more than a dozen awards including: national inventor of the year award, popular mechanics breakthrough innovator awards, world technology awards among others. P&G has invested over $ 35 million (ksh 2.9 billion) towards this program since inception.