Approximately three weeks after Facebook crowned the winner of the first-ever Facebook Developer Garage, Google is set to conclude their inaugural Google Gadget Competition.
Both competitions have students in mind. But as the Google Gadget Competition, which began in February, comes to a close next week, the question that begs an answer is why the software developers are so keen on East African students.
There is a huge market here crying to be tapped. Google says that through the competition, they want to reward and encourage students in East Africa to envision, design, and develop gadgets that can impact consumers globally. It is all about numbers.
The scope of the Google competition is much wider compared to the Facebook one, as it involves the East African market. Students will create functioning applications of their own designs. The official website of the competition says that the gadgets should be small, simple applications that run on web pages.
There are gadgets for easy e-mail access, to-do lists, football results, and other fun uses. They’re simple to develop, provided you have some knowledge of HTML and ideally XML and JavaScript.
It further says: You might build a calendar of school events, an interactive quiz, or anything you can dream up for a web page. If you’ve never taken a web design class, you can probably create a gadget in a few weeks.
Chris Kiagiri, the Tech Lead, Google Kenya, says one of the major reasons for targeting students is the energetic and intellectual curiosity that they exude.
“Students represent a large part of the so-called ‘Internet generation’ in Africa. These students will form the backbone of the workforce over the next decade and beyond, and since both Google and Facebook view themselves as platforms for Internet usage, it makes sense to give as much exposure as possible to as many members of this generation as possible,” says Mr Kiagiri.
But keeping in mind that both Google and Facebook were founded by university students in their hostels, and they are now multi billion enterprises, institutions of higher learning have traditionally been hubs for research activity and innovation.
Approximately three weeks after Facebook crowned the winner of the first-ever Facebook Developer Garage, Google is set to conclude their inaugural Google Gadget Competition.
Both competitions have students in mind. But as the Google Gadget Competition, which began in February, comes to a close next week, the question that begs an answer is why the software developers are so keen on East African students.
There is a huge market here crying to be tapped. Google says that through the competition, they want to reward and encourage students in East Africa to envision, design, and develop gadgets that can impact consumers globally. It is all about numbers.
The scope of the Google competition is much wider compared to the Facebook one, as it involves the East African market. Students will create functioning applications of their own designs. The official website of the competition says that the gadgets should be small, simple applications that run on web pages.
There are gadgets for easy e-mail access, to-do lists, football results, and other fun uses. They’re simple to develop, provided you have some knowledge of HTML and ideally XML and JavaScript.
It further says: You might build a calendar of school events, an interactive quiz, or anything you can dream up for a web page. If you’ve never taken a web design class, you can probably create a gadget in a few weeks.
Chris Kiagiri, the Tech Lead, Google Kenya, says one of the major reasons for targeting students is the energetic and intellectual curiosity that they exude.
“Students represent a large part of the so-called ‘Internet generation’ in Africa. These students will form the backbone of the workforce over the next decade and beyond, and since both Google and Facebook view themselves as platforms for Internet usage, it makes sense to give as much exposure as possible to as many members of this generation as possible,” says Mr Kiagiri.
But keeping in mind that both Google and Facebook were founded by university students in their hostels, and they are now multi billion enterprises, institutions of higher learning have traditionally been hubs for research activity and innovation.
Forbes magazine declared Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.
Openworld chief executive officer Dorcas Muthoni says international software developers’ keen interest in East Africa can only lead to a win-win situation for the region, software developers and of course participants in the competition.
Wilfred Mworia, the winner of the Facebook Garage Competition says, several international software developers have approached him. He has also enrolled for the Google competition.
ImageMs Muthoni says one of the major returns on investment for companies sponsoring such competitions would be identifying talent. The IT world has been plagued by skills shortage, leading to massive talent wars characterised by heavy poaching.
Mr Kiagiri adds that Google gadgets are primarily used to customise one’s Internet browsing experience via the personalised Google home page at www.google.com/ig.
At present, there are few relevant gadgets for the East African region, which means that the customised home page is not as valuable to local users as it is to users in places like the US and Europe, for example.
“We would like this competition to be a catalyst for changing that,” he says. Ms Muthoni says that for Kenya to stand out as an IT services hub, and as the country gears up for the fibre optic cable era, such competition would put the nation on the IT map.
Africa has been dubbed “the last frontier” when it comes to Internet penetration and usage.
Within the continent, Kenya being an English-speaking country with a relatively well-educated and progressive workforce, makes a favourable entry point for international companies.
Specifically, Nairobi has always been the logical business hub for the East African region, as evidenced by the presence of many multinationals and organisations such as the UN.
Launching pad
With Kenya being the launching pad for most international companies eyeing the African market, it is important for the country to up its game.
“The government should look for ways to harness ideas coming from universities as well as encourage innovation,” says Ms Muthoni. When the Google Gadget Competition winner is announced in mid August, five students will bag a $350 stipend while one student will receive a $600 stipend.
The leading search engine firm envisages more than 1,000 entries, with over 500 from Kenya. Some examples of Google gadgets that are popular among iGooogle users are To Do, which allows one to note down what they need to do, move the items around, and delete individual items when tasks are completed.
The Earth From Above was created using images by renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Betrand and a feed of environmental information from GoodPlanet.org. Not only is it an attractive gadget, it also carries serious messages, updated daily.
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