Internet.org takes app honours at AfricaCom Awards

The internet.org app developed as part of Facebook’s connectivity initiative in developing countries has earned Bharti Airtel the award for Best App for Africa.

The 2014 AfricaCom Awards, which recognise and acknowledge excellence in the digital technology, ICT, Telecommunications and Media across Africa, saw a record number of entries this year.

The winning projects are:

1. Best App for Africa – Bharti Airtel – internet.org.app

2. Best Connectivity Solutions for Africa – WIOCC – Connecting Somalia – Closing the final link

3. Best Cost Efficiency Solutions for Africa – Huawei – Africa’s first SDN innovation: MTN TT Project

4. Best Device for Africa – Solarway – Solar powered mobile phone charging station

5. Best Marketing Campaign – Huawei – MTN’s Nelson Mandela Birthday’s 67 minutes campaign

6. Best Mobile Money Solution – Bharti Airtel – Airtel Money

7. Best Network Improvement – WIOCC – Extending WIOCC’s Pan-African network into Somalia

8. Best Pan-African Initiative – Liquid Telecom – East Africa Fibre Ring

9. Breakthrough LTE Development – Ericsson – Unitel

10. Changing Lives Award – Afrigis – Gender based violence command centre (GBVCC)

11. Excellence in Customer Experience Management – Orange – ‚Äò100% Successful Calls’ suite of services

12. Most Innovative Service – Millicom Tanzania – Tigo Pesa – International Mobile Money Transfer

13. VSAT Innovation for Africa – Liquid Telecom – Shared MPLS Satellite service.

14. Etisalat Pan-African Prize for Innovation 2014 winner of IDEA – MEMMCOL (interactive media interface design i.e. IMID) a design for Energy Meters, it is specifically tailored towards helping Consumers remotely monitor their energy consumption using their Mobile devices (windows, IOS and the Android Platforms). The user interface is unique, interactive and modelled to look like an energy meter with its keypad and display. IMID will encourage and drive Internet usage, promote civilization and be of immense advantage to the energy industry.

15. Etisalat Pan-African Prize for Innovation 2014 winner of PRODUCT – EXAM MATE – an exam preparatory software, specifically for Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board exams (JAMB). The app was developed, as an offline product for mobile PC’s to aid usage amongst exam candidates who do not have access to mobile broadband. Presently, the product is available for download at an online market hub for usage on mobile PC’s. From an economic point of view, with an average of 1.5 million candidates seating for JAMB examination annually, getting the product at a very affordable rate across to a projected target of 1 million candidates will generate high revenue. With detailed voiced explanations in various subjects, applied knowledge will be imparted into the candidates, which will remain relevant in whichever field they find themselves later in life.

16. The Orange Social venture Prize 2014 – Out of the 452 submitted projects the following prize winners were selected:

a. The first prize has been awarded to Modisar Botswana

The project is a livestock farm management application (desktop, web & mobile) that makes it easy for a farmer to manage his\her farm. The mission of Modisar is of resuscitating the livestock industry and cultivating livestock farming interest among the youth by marrying today’s technologies and the nation’s passion for farming, Modisar aims to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the livestock sector, a major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product in Botswana.

b. The second prize has been awarded to Station C√¥te d’Ivoire

Station Energy has developed an innovative retail concept of energy services. Inspired by both the model service stations gasoline and African grocery shop Station Energy is a solution to enable energy access and affordability for all. In C√¥te d’Ivoire, it is a shop equipped with photovoltaic panels to provide various shared services (rental batteries allowing access to lighting, renting cold spaces, Internet access, sales of low consumption equipment, etc.) in rural or urban areas.

c. The third prize has been awarded to Bouquet Pass Santé Senegal

This project is a platform that allows the diaspora or persons residing in Senegal, to pay medical consultation for you or for a loved one directly online.

d. The Orange Partner API prize has been awarded to The Twinklebox Project in Kenya. Twinkle box combines mobile technology with solar technology, allowing Kenyan customers to buy scratch cards to pay for energy, just as they would for mobile phones. This model will solve the high upfront cost problem of solar solutions to be the same price of keresone light.

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