Tourbly,
developed by a team of students from the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of
Technology (MEST) has been announced regional winner of 2013 Google Cloud
Developer Challenge, winning US$20,000 cash prize.
The
annual challenge, last year in September 2013, invited submissions from the
developer community worldwide for new applications built using Google’s Cloud
platform.
Out
of over 400 submissions from around the world, 12 teams were announced winners
made up of 2 teams from each region – Latin America, India, Middle East &
Northern Africa, South East Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, United States and Europe.
The
team of 3, Precious Ewusi Nyarko, Samuel Ako and Christian Osei-Bonsu, all 2nd
year students at MEST developed Tourbly, a platform for travel lovers, working
to connect other travelers with friendly and reliable tour guides to hundreds
of tourist destinations worldwide.
“We
couldn’t be more excited and optimistic about the future. Having competed
successfully on the world stage with over 400 talented developer teams, we are
confident now, more than ever, in our ability to execute as a team and deliver
when it matters most. The cash and recognition that comes with it will be
instrumental as we take Tourbly from “cool app” to being a profitable
business,” said Precious Ewusi Nyarko, Tourbly team leader.
Congratulating
the team, Ekua Odoom, Managing Director, MEST, said “MEST is pioneering a noble
cause to support great talent in Africa. There are a ton of exceptional talent
in Ghana and Africa as a whole and our goal at MEST is to give young people the
opportunity to realise their potential through training, mentoring and seed
support. We offer these students the opportunity to build successful software
businesses that can compete on a global scale and inspire generations to
follow. Today, we are so proud of our entrepreneurs who have proven that talent
is indeed talent everywhere. Congratulations to the winning team.”
Excited
about the outcome of the challenge, Chukuemeka Afigbo, outreach program manager
at Google, stated, “the Google Cloud Developer Challenge is one of the many
initiatives from Google for the developer community. It is our hope that this
contest has helped increase adherence to global software development best
practices while encouraging entrepreneurship amongst our software developers. I
would like to congratulate the Tourbly team and encourage them not to rest on
their laurels but to continue to improve on their application.”
The
Google Cloud Developer Challenge is a contest designed to motivate and reward
entrants who develop applications that are based on Google’s Cloud Platform
that are original and relevant to the region in which they live.
The
challenge involves developers in six regions across the world, expected to
submit their apps to one of two specially-designated competition categories:
Enterprise/Small Business Solutions, Education, Not for Profit; and
Social/Personal Productivity/Games/Fun.
The
Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and the MEST Incubator
program provide training, investment and mentoring for aspiring technology
entrepreneurs with the goal of creating globally successful companies that
create wealth and jobs locally in Africa.
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