Editor, Refer to the story, “Fresh bid to boost public service delivery using technology” (The New Times, July 10) I am happy to hear about this initiative of developing this app. I am pretty sure the people and the government as well will benefit from the technology. However, I would mention that the prize that was given to the top five winners is not really something that would be considered motivating. Imagine someone sitting on a computer for a couple of months, thinking and writing thousands of lines of code, and, in the end you get less than $1000 in rewards! How will innovators be motivated if their innovation is awarded such amount? I would advise the Ministry of Youth and ICT to really look into some ways it can have better incentives for the innovators. The innovator’s life has to change and everyone should be able to notice that something has changed in their life, this way even the young ones will be inspired to think outside of the box. We, as the Rwandans, are the ones who have the key to our own success. I believe that the locals know better what is best for them and the local technology would be given more credibility. The sad thing is when you go to the market presenting a locally developed product, and immediately people doubt it. We still think that the best must be foreign. For instance, you present yourself as a software engineer and there comes another guy from a different country, that guy is considered an expert just because he is a foreigner or because of his skin colour. That’s too bad. Entrepreneur
