Four female app developers to represent Nigeria at world tech summit in US

Four female students in Rivers State who developed an android application named AgriConnect are to attend and represent Nigeria at this year’s World Technovation Girls Challenge at the Silicon Valley, California, United States of America.

Their winning android application was developed to deal with hunger issues in the country. They will be joined by other phenomenal young female developers from other parts of the world between October 15 and 19 this year.

The young students—Oghenemaro Tejiri, 12, Salome Akhabhau, 11, Excel Barile-Nwika, 11, and Goodness Nwonanne-Chima, 12—are students of Jacob’s Well High School, Port Harcourt.

They had developed the android application to combat hunger in Nigeria. The girls were under the tutelage of Code Ambassadors, the consultants engaged to groom students in the school to become shining stars in the evolving tech world.

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The AgriConnect was among the 3,200 android applications developed by about 11,000 girls from 69 countries, including the USA, UK, Japan, China, Canada, and Spain. The four girls who call themselves the Smart Elite fell into the beginners division of the contest, whose age bracket falls between eight and 12 years; the other categories being the junior division (ages 13-17) and senior division (ages 18 and above).

After a series of assessments by several judges drawn from various disciplines, 15 android applications were selected as finalists (five android applications for each division), while three android applications were selected for special awards, which virtual ceremony took place on July 9.

For their outstanding app, the young Nigerian female developers who were given special recognition are being invited to the all-expenses-paid technovation summit where the grand awardees would be selected.

Speaking on the development, coordinator and proprietor of the school, Mrs. Egondu Jacob told journalists that it was not surprising that her students were putting Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria on the list of nations of the world whose students are outstanding in app development at a very young age.

She said, “The news of the exceptional performance of our girls and the special award for combating hunger was received with lots of excitement by the board chairman, Engr. Unwana Jacob, and the entire school.

“This achievement is a dream fulfilled because having seen our biological children—Miss Ukemeabasi Unwana Jacob (with 8A1s and 1B2 result in the 2023 WASSCE) and Master Uwakmfon Unwana Jacob (a young maths icon with over 40 national and international medals in mathematics)—receiving national and international accolades in their secondary school education, we had challenged ourselves that under God, children from other families should equally be trained to stand out and be recognized nationally and globally through the facilities and programmes of the Jacob’s Well Schools International.

“We are grateful to God for the enormous support received from our consultant, Mr. Somkenechukwu Mamah, the founder of Code Ambassadors (an organisation dedicated to training kids and teens in technology, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship), amazing staff and also from parents in the school. We are optimistic that greater achievements are on the way and Nigeria and Africa would be made proud through the achievements of our students.

“It is interesting to note that AgriConnect was the only android application from Nigeria that made it to the final round as well as the only android application in Africa that got a special award out of the three mobile applications recognized for a special award, globally.”

She added that in today’s world that is being driven by technology, it was important for Nigerian leaders to invest in and encourage children to grow in their knowledge of technology, adding that it was for that reason that Jacob’s Well Schools decided to introduce coding, robotics, and ICT to pupils from primary one.

“As of date, students and pupils in the school have created over 12 android applications to solve societal problems, and some of these apps have received international recognition. Five android applications created by the five teams of female students in the school were registered for the 2024 Technovation Global Competition, an annual event where girls from various countries in the world register in teams in order to showcase their tech-based solutions to community problems created by their teams in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” she said.

Also, the school’s tech consultant expressed the hope that the female quartet app developers would stand out “as the youngest startup co-founders who leverage technology to solve more problems, especially in the agricultural sector.

“In the next five years, they should have gained experience building business models around their solution, gaining more traction, attracting funding, and inspiring more young minds to start their tech journey early enough. I hope the country supports them by providing all the resources and access they need to get their solution into the hands of Nigerians.”