The four champs who bagged the Microsoft Game of Learners hackathon

Game of Learners hackathon

Slightly more than a month ago Microsoft’s Africa Development Centre (ADC) announced that they have set up a competition for college and University students where the students would virtually compete in developing an impactful solutions that can help address some of Africa’s and the world challenges – the Microsoft’s Game of Learners hackathon.

To participate, students were supposed to form a team and through that team register for the competition. To ensure that all participants had required tools to participate, every participant received:

  • Solar panel with battery and inverter
  • MiFi device loaded with data bundles
  • LinkedIn Learning vouchers
  • Azure Fundamentals exam vouchers
  • DevOps and agile practices training
  • 1-year Azure credits
  • Digital certificate and digital badge for participation

The competition was to take five weeks. During the competition, all participants were given access to development resources provided by Microsoft, and the winners were to walk away with:

  • 1-year Azure credits
  • 1-year LinkedIn Learning vouchers
  • Digital certificate and digital badge for winning
  • 1:1 mentorship from preferred professionals

Well, after the 5 weeks for the competition, Joshua Melita (Strathmore University), Cyndrella Wafula of Multimedia University and led by Microsoft Student Ambassador Joshua Ndemenge (Dedan Kimathi University) emerged the winner of the Game of Learners Hackathon with their RemD medical consultations app.

According to a press release shared by Microsoft, the RemD uses technology to avail a set of tools and services that aim to bring health care services to a user or an organization. Through the app, a user requests for consultation services selecting whether they would like consultation with either a general physician, a psychiatrist, or a paediatrician. They then receive a message from the bot to begin triage where all the symptoms are recorded. After the triage, the bot sends all the information recorded to the doctor on the App. The doctor continues the conversation with a user via SMS. If the doctor deems it necessary, an in-person appointment can be set up. 

“Any user seeking medical services can access our services through the mobile app or the USSD App. While the doctor on the other end can interact with these users using the windows app,” explains the RemD team leader, Joshua Ndemenge. 

The African Development Center Managing Director Jack Ngare congratulated all the 25 participating students noting that some of the projects presented had big potential for commercialisation and Microsoft was willing to support them achieve that dream. Apart from RemD, the other projects submitted include Tribore, MediChap, Mizizi and Motion, all showcasing various solutions to avail healthcare solutions via different technology platforms.

“While access to healthcare has been a key concern in Africa for ages, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the impetus to discover new technology solutions that will enable health providers handle an influx of people who get sick and it is encouraging to see the young generation and innovators harnessing the technology they have access to in developing solutions for the industry,” said Jack Ngare, the Africa Development Center Managing Director at the end of the competition. He added, “We are keen at growing your skills and I will really be proud to see some of you that has participated in the Game of Learners joining one of the engineering teams at Microsoft.”

“We are so keen on enabling the next generation of great African engineers and innovators that will not only benefit Microsoft, but the entire ecosystem as well,” Ngare said.

Microsoft has operated on the continent for more than 26 years, building partnerships to bridge the gaps in infrastructure, connectivity and capability to accelerate innovation. Through the ADC, Microsoft is enabling digital transformation, bridging gaps in infrastructure, connectivity and capability while creating sustained societal impact on the African continent. The center is recruiting world-class African engineering talent to develop innovative solutions that span the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge and the hackathon complemented ongoing efforts to create a modern intelligent edge and cloud curriculum, unique to Africa

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