14-year-old Prodigy Wins MTN Nigeria Kiddies Hackathon

A 14-year-old, Yusuf Molumo has emerged as the winner of the 2019 MTN mPulse Kiddies Hackathon for creating QuizMe, an educational aggregator app that doubles as a mini-encyclopedia and grants young people access to general interest information about Nigeria, such as its states, capitals and slogans; data on key Nigerian and foreign entrepreneurs through short and fun quiz questions.

The hackathon, organised by MTN Nigeria with the aim of creating the Next Generation of Innovators and Inventors, held on Friday13th September, 2019 at the company’s head office in Ikoyi. 

Speaking on the hackathon, Chief Operating Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mazen Mroue said: “The Kiddies Hackathon is part of MTN Nigeria’s robust contribution towards growing the capacity, competence and creativity of our children.” 

“In an increasingly dynamic and innovative world, we recognise the importance of empowering our youngsters with the tools, resources and opportunities they need to create the solutions that will guarantee a brighter future for our great country.”

The participants were provided with work tools, granted access to the hackathon’s portal and received expert counsel from mentors drawn from Nigeria’s startup scene on applying tech knowledge to tackling real life problems.

The top 15 projects were selected and invited to the grand finale, with the top five winners pitching their ideas.

The three best ideas were rewarded with various prizes, including shopping vouchers worth N100, 000, laptops, headphones, school learning materials and three months mentorship programme with TechQuest STEM Academy.

The competition is consistent with MTN Nigeria’s commitment to championing innovations that will equip children and adequately prepare them for the future. 

In 2018, the company unveiled mPulse, a new proposition for teens and tweens designed to equip kids between ages 9 and 14.

The mPulse package comes with a voice plan and a fun, educative website which hosts a wide variety of courses and study aids to help children from Primary 1 to SS3 excel.

The portal also provides a bouquet of single and multiplayer games as well as life skill videos.

From computer programming, fashion designing, medicine and blogging to engineering, writing, data science and motivational speaking etc; there is something for every interest.