Global telecommunications company, Bharti Airtel, has announced Singtel/Airtel Accelerator Challenge, a new app challenge for startup developers. This is part of their strategy to engage with app developers in Africa and Asia and partner with them in developing and launching applications on the two continents.
Bharti Airtel must really believe in the future of startups on the African continent. In February 2015, Airtel Nigeria announced the seven winners to their Catapult-a-Startup contest, a contest aimed at providing a platform for budding mobile app developers to receive advanced mentoring from industry veterans, funding, marketing, and also improve their skills.
This Accelerator challenge is in collaboration with singaporean telecommunications company Singtel and smartphone company Samsung. Announcing the partnership, Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, Christian de Faria said, “the challenge reiterates the company’s commitment to empowering the youth to realise their potential in various sectors including Information Communication and Technology.
“This initiative is a great opportunity for developers in Africa to come up with innovative mobile apps that directly touch individual consumer’s needs. We hope to partner with like-minded individuals who will come forward and work together with us to come up with apps that will help us deliver the best smartphone experience for customers,” said Mr. de Faria.
Criteria for Apps:
All submissions should be consumer-centric mobile apps or solutions that leverage on mobile network services to deliver value, e.g. mobile data, carrier billing, location, SMS, etc.
Example of the desired types of apps:
Lifestyle – help the individuals in their everyday life. It’s about social, fun, and productivity.
On-demand Economy – connect the supply and demand; allowing a consumer to buy anything from goods to services
Smart Living – communicate with surrounding appliances and devices to enhance living.
Apps must be 80%-90% ready for deployment and should not have been launched yet.
Criteria for Participants:
Participants must be individuals residing or companies registered in the country where the local competition is being held.
Participants must provide a live demonstration of their app during the pitch session for the grand finale.
All applications must be submitted by September 5th, 2015.
For more details and to submit, visit the link
Photo Credit: Hyderabad Marathon via Compfight cc
