AfriGrowth Foundation
AfriGrowth Foundation, a non-profit organisation committed to enhancing growth and changing lives of needy communities; says it has launched the Innovative Challenge programme in a bid to demonstrate that technology could become the tool for sustainable national development.
Executive Director of the foundation, Mrs. Oly Sanni, who disclosed this to The Guardian yesterday, noted that “the role technology could play in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, education, poverty alleviation, climate change and governance, cannot be overemphasized.”
She explained that as a result her Foundation decided to run the Innovative Challenge beginning from the month of May 2016, calling out for proposals on how innovative technology can be used as a tool to improve literacy and education in Nigeria.
“AfriGrowth Foundation Innovative Challenge is an avenue where Teenagers and Youths are given the opportunity to come up with creative ideas using technology to improve learning and education in Nigeria,” she added, saying that the Challenge will encourage the development of apps, websites or online services that help achieve that.
The Executive Director noted that with the theme, “Innovative Technology As A Tool For Improving Learning And Education In Nigeria”, this year’s challenge would require Nigerian youths and teenagers to send in their ideas.
The seven best ideas, she said, will have the opportunity of being presented to top government officials in the education sector, heads of incubation hubs, heads of technological companies, angel investors and other stakeholders at the AfriGrowth forum in September, 2016.
Mrs. Sanni added that the best three ideas will then be given the opportunity of incubating those ideas to become actual products, applications or resources used as a means to improve education.
“AfriGrowth Foundation believes that no nation rises above the quality of its human capital; this is to say that education is critical to nation building and development. Technology helps in creating programmes targeted at mass literacy and in effect, aid in economic development and youth self-reliance,” she declared.
She stressed that with its strong commitment to improving the literacy level of children and youths in Nigeria, AfriGrowth Foundation has over the years conducted national essay competitions, which encouraged youths to improve their reading and writing skills to win prizes.
According to the Executive Director, the competitions also aided the Foundation in understanding the extent to which children and youths aged 18-35 can read and write, understand composition and also transfer their imaginations unto paper constructively and effectively.