Catchy tech projects that stole the show at Miss Geek contest

On Saturday, Nancy Sibo was announced the winner of Miss Geek 2014 for her mobile cow application project. Miss Geek, a technology award that recognises ICT projects by women, was organised for the first time in Rwanda. Sibo, a student in the Faculty of Agriculture Engineering, University of Rwanda, presented her application called ‘Mobile Cow’, an app that could be tied to the government’s Girinka programme to allow farmers to monitor the estrus cycles of cows. Speaking to The New Times, Isibo said she was so happy to be the winner of the inaugural Miss Geek award as an agriculture student who participated among students of technology from other universities. Among the prizes she won was a mini iPad from Tigo, a BlackBerry phone from Dot Rwanda, an internship at Ecobank, and training at k-Lab. She was chosen among the 25 applicants from various higher learning institutions across the country. The second prize winner was Christine Bayizere, a student in Electronics and Electricity Engineering, who presented a ‘Wireless Black Box’ for monitoring vehicles and sending alerts in case of an accident. Josephine Tujyimbere came third with the Class Attendance Management System that uses fingerprint recognition to monitor students’ progress. Chantal Mukundwa, a Computer Engineering and Information Technology student, explained her proposed software, called the Nearby Item Locator System, which is both a web and mobile application that allows users to search for items they wish to buy, and receive a list of the nearest shops with those items in stock. She scooped the people’s choice award from online voting. Govt support The fifth was Eline Nyirangirimana, an ICT student who developed the Online Driving Licence Examination System that allows users to save time by taking their driving tests online. Akaliza Gara, a member of Girls in ICT, said Miss Geek is an opportunity to celebrate the women in ICT and inspire other women to join the sector. “There is nothing specifically male about ICT, it’s something that both men and women can embrace and use to make the most of their career,” she said. The Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said government, through the Smart Rwanda programme, supports girls in ICT so they can contribute to the country’s development agenda. Nsengimana said while women have been economically, socially and politically empowered, the number of women in science and technology remains low.

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Catchy tech projects that stole the show at Miss Geek contest