GASABO - Rwanda Information Technology Authority (RITA) announced nominees for the first Intego Information Communication Technology (ICT) awards at a press conference held yesterday at Telecom house.

Nkubito Bakuramutsa, Executive Director RITA (Appointed Wednesday as Deputy Chief Executive Officer Rwanda Development Board in charge of ICT), made this announcement yesterday at a press conference that marked the start of a landmark event for the ICT sector in Rwanda.

According to Bakuramutsa, the first awards will primarily be used, among other purposes, to promote ICT entrepreneurship, motivate Rwandan companies to produce exportable ICT products and to serve rural and underserved areas.

"We want to use the awards to reward institutions and individuals that have excelled in adopting best ICT practices and to showcase the achievements by Rwandan institutions and individuals in the area of ICT,” he said.

The Intego ICT awards, which are in line with the National Information and Communication Infrastructure plan (NICI), will take place October 31, 2008 at Kigali Serena Hotel under the theme: "Achievements of Rwandan firms in the area of Information and Communication Technology.”

Bakuramutsa added that the awards will provide an ideal opportunity for Rwandan ICT companies, public policy makers, technocrats, Institutions of higher learning and civil society to celebrate the progress achieved in the ICT field.

He further says that this will create a clear path for the way forward to ensure Rwanda’s vision of transforming the economy into an information-rich, knowledge-based ICT economy.

"It is important to note that one of the best ways to encourage excellence and innovation is recognising every single step that is taken in the right direction,” added Bakuramutsa in his address to the media.

 He also said that RITA’s motivation at this stage is not to use the awards to reward excellence per se but rather to instill the best ICT practices, recognise and encourage those who have made significant strides in Rwanda’s ICT for development vision.

The nomination, which started September 5 and ended October 5, has 16 categories whereby each category has five nominees.

There will be only one winner in every category. Also, 43 Rwandan companies were nominated to compete for RITA’s first ever Intego ICT awards.

Voting for the nominees will commence October 13, and will constitute votes from a panel of judges and the public. The public popular vote will constitute 30 percent and the panel of judges’ vote 70 percent. 

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