Uganda’s developers brace to contest for “next billionaire” title on Sept 15 at Makerere

Reports from the university say the workshop will focus on extensive training of students of computer science and IT to ensure the aspects of innovation for apps that can propel economic development are pushed for.

The last day will feature a Hackathon where participants will come up with mobile apps. The programming platforms to be covered include Android and Mobile Web.

The top three app developers will be awarded cash prizes of up to Ush2,040,000.
Makerere University School of Computing and Informatics Technology coordinator Beatrice Namanya said the participants would go through training on Android and iPhone app development.
This year’s event is set to attract higher expectations on whether a new technology wiz will come out. This year’s event follows the success story of Uganda’s tech wiz Abdu Ssekalala who became Uganda’s billionaire after winning nearly USh1.2 billion ($500,000) at the age of 22.

Sekalala, also from the university, has since developed close to nine globally recognised mobile phone applications, including the Uganda Theme; the third most downloaded application on the Nokia programmes store with close to 300,000 downloads, according to The Observer.

According to the university, strict guidelines and requirements for participation have been documented and only students from Ugandan university or college taking computer science or IT courses, and demonstrate a proficiency in Python and Java programming languages will be allowed to compete.

Namanya said experts from Nairobi, Kenya who will identify apps that meet the preferred standards would supervise the event.

ICT workshop will attract students across the country in the ICT sector from September 13 to15. Hundreds of university students from across Uganda are expected converge at the Makerere University.