Kenya’s Abdinoor Yerrow is among three winners of the Africa Telecommunications Union Africa Innovation Challenge 2020.
Yerrow who bagged $3,000 (Sh325,531) came second alongside North Africa’s Mai Nagy and Cameroon’s Bequerelle Matemtsap Mbou.
Yerrow’s submission, a mobile application designed to bridge the language barrier in learning, enables rural learners to access basic literacy and numeracy in their local dialects.
The competition was launched by the ATU, a specialised agency of the African Union in the field of telecommunications.
It was designed to identify and support young Africans who have developed innovations to contain Covid-19 and other emergencies in Africa.
The ATU believes that investments and commitments in ICT will be the fastest way to support economic growth and bring more Africans into the fast-growing digital economy.
“As the ICT community, we have chosen to be part of the solution at a time when the problem is too dominant,” said ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, who was also the chief guest.
Huawei Group Vice President Tao Hou urged local developers to come up with local solutions to local problems.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya
