Advanced School of Engineering wins Y'ello Digital Talent challenge.

The challenge is an innovation of leading telecoms company, MTN Cameroon through MTN Foundation. This was in partnership with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The team from SUP’PTIC won a prize of two million FCFA thanks to their project named SKOLARR.

Results of the challenge were announced recently. This was during a ceremony at the Cameroon Digital Innovation Centre in Yaounde. Officials from partner ministries and experts in ICTs lived the moment.  The winners outsmarted teams from nine other regions of the country.

A team from the Higher Institute of Management Sciences and Sustainable Development, ISSTMADD, from the Adamawa Region came second with their project E-SUKUL. The third prize went to the National Polytechnic School of Maroua in the North Region.

Competitors were mainly students from higher institutions of learning specialised in disciplines such as: Computer Science, Technology, Telecommunications and related fields. 

Officials said the goal was to stimulate digital innovation and encourage the development of adequate and impactful digital solutions to boost the digital economy.

The Chief Executive Officer, CEO of MTN Cameroon, Mitwa Ng'ambi, saluted the teams that participated in the competition.

She disclosed that 45 universities and higher institutions of learning registered for the competition but only 10 were selected. At least one, Mitwa noted, was selected from every region.

“...this is a unique performance that we praise...,” the MTN Cameroon boss said, before promising a more competitive second edition in the near future.

She equally thanked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications for honouring the final of the challenge. 

She equally saluted the Minister’s collaborators in the 10 regions of the country who “spared no effort to ensure the smooth running of this competition”.

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Libom Li Likeng, used the event to reiterate the positive impact of ICTs all sectors of today’s world. ICT development, she said, has been a major priority for government in the last two decades.

Libom Likeng said the government is committed to accelerate the digital transformation of Cameroon, in order to achieve the objectives of the National Development Strategy, SND 2030.

Digital transformation, she underscored, has the potential to open up opportunities to overcome structural barriers to development and support for a more inclusive and productive society. 

Young ICT innovators, she said, are “bearers of innovative and disruptive ideas that have the potential to transform the world. It is therefore important to support them in this journey of innovation by offering them the resources, tools and advice they need to succeed”.

The minister advocated the coaching of young people to come up with innovative ideas, products and services that can create employment and stimulate economic growth.