Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar; Mr. Olaseni Odebiyi and CEO, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans
At an event ceremony held at FourPoints by Sheraton Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on 7 February, first prize winner, Olaseni Odebiyi, CEO Sinelimit was awarded $25, 000 and three Samsung navigating devices for the most innovative product or service for his mobile application Mobile Maths Practice.
The application allows senior secondary students practice key subjects like mathematics and English language on their mobile phones. The app carries questions from previous editions of West African Examination Council, WAEC and Joint Admission Matriculation Board, JAMB. Oyehmi Begho emerged runner-up for his iConnect Project by Future Software. He was awarded $10,000 and three Samsung navigating device.
iConnect is a mobile training unit that aims at teaching and training Nigerians. Steve Evans, Chief Executive Officer, said innovation has been the bedrock of their company and it is the strategy with which they have used to grow their product. "Since we launched four years ago we have been at the forefront of innovations. We started with HomeZone and You & Me and today we make life easy with our unique affordable tariff to easyblaze the fastest broadband service in Nigeria," he said.
He explained that Etisalat Nigeria instituted and sponsored the "Etisalat Prize for Innovation award" last year for the most innovative product/service and idea at the 2012 edition of the Africa Com conference in Cape Town, South Africa. "The reason for introducing this unique award category to the Africa Com lineup is to encourage and promote broadband adoption and usage in Nigeria and Africa in general," he stated. Zainab Baruwa-Abiola, manager, Executive Projects added that the company intends to help bolster creativity in Nigeria. "The point of the prize is not just to inspire creativity but to empower the creativity and enable these innovations to become something great," she said.
