The 2021 edition of Challenge App Africa was held recently with the so topical theme "digital technology in the fight against epidemics". The competition, which is in its fifth edition, organized by France Médias Monde, aims to support the development of innovative mobile or web solutions to fight against epidemics.
“RFI and France24 have launched the 5th edition of the Challenge App Africa, which is an innovation competition focusing on development issues,” said Sinatou SAKA, a journalist specializing in digital entrepreneurship in Africa and editorial project manager for RFI and France 24. “The aim of this competition is first and foremost to encourage African entrepreneurs to produce, or at least develop, mobile applications around development issues.”
“We are above all looking for solutions that will be useful and accessible to as many people as possible.”
This edition, open to all Africans and young companies on the continent, aimed to promote the integration of new technologies in the fight against epidemics in French-speaking Africa, by rewarding digital innovations (websites, applications, SMS services...) that make it possible to meet the needs of users during the onset of epidemics.
“What we are looking for above all are solutions that will be useful and accessible to the greatest number, including for those who do not have access to an Internet connection or who speak neither French nor English, so applications developed in the local language,” Sinatou further indicates. “This year’s theme was health and it was required by the health context. It was a record year because we received nearly 1,000 applications from more than 43 countries on the continent.”
It is the Guinean doctor Amara DIAWARA who was rewarded for his Afriqcare project on February 16, 2021. This is a platform for health professionals and patients from Mali and Guinea. It allows the management of consultations and appointment scheduling online, while giving doctors access to the patient's medical record through a health booklet and an electronic vaccination record to facilitate follow-up.
“We rewarded an application, Afriqcare, which connects patients and doctors in Mali and Guinea in particular, coupled with a digital vaccination record, and which will develop telemedicine activities in the coming months. We are very proud of this laureate, who is receiving an endowment of 15,000 euros to develop his project. A new phase is opening up for him. It is clear that we will follow the development of his project. It is really an accompaniment that we are trying to do, with the incubators of the finalists' countries of origin, so that this grant will allow him to develop his project and especially for the application to solve a problem on a small scale, and for a larger number of people.”
It is also an opportunity to promote the young entrepreneur, especially to the decision-makers of his country. “We are aware that RFI and France 24 are very much listened to by the leaders of these countries. This is also an opportunity for us to promote this type of initiative that exists in their countries. It is with joy that the prize-winner, who is immediately awarded the prize, is encouraged by the authorities of his country, who discovered him on our radio stations. This is important for us, because we are above all a media, and we are keen to give visibility to these projects carried by Africans and which bring local solutions to local problems.”
Three other projects were selected as finalists: Denko Kunafoni by Malian Fatoumata BOCOUM, Tork by Ivorian Joseph-Olivier BILEY and DiagnoseMe by Burkinabe Adama SY TRAORE. They will be supported by incubators to develop their projects, from April 2021.
The Challenge App Africa is an initiative supported by Engie Africa, Digital Africa, Société Générale, Africa Global Recycling and the Next Einstein Forum.