BY PHESHEYA IAN KUNENE
MBABANE – The Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) winners were beaming with smiles today as they signed a contract with Georgetown University for full development of the App they created during the competition.
RSTP had a hackathon in partnership with Georgetown University through the support of PEPFAR. The aim was to give young people an opportunity to develop an App that will enable them to access health care services particularly those that relate to HIV prevention and management.
RSTP’s Senior Communications Officer Senzo Malaza confirmed that the winners had already signed the contract with the university.
“The winners, Tech Nerds, were today signing a contract with Georgetown University for the full development of the system which is meant to also integrate with the other systems that already exist within the health space as Georgetown University is trying to support the Ministry of Health,” Malaza said.
It is worth mentioning that the winners, Tech Nerds were awarded a 3-month contract with Georgetown University and software licenses to develop a digital health solution.
Tech Nerds were crowned by Minister of ICT Savannah Maziya as the winners of the Code for Healthcare Hackathon. This competition is meant to empower young innovators to tackle Eswatini’s healthcare challenges by developing digital health solutions, especially for underserved communities.
The hackathon challenged Eswatini’s youth to create solutions addressing critical healthcare needs in the country. This initiative promotes youth-driven innovation, encouraging young leaders to make a lasting impact in their communities.
Meanwhile, second placed Digital Health Hacker received a 6-week internship and a 3-month mentorship with RSTP Business Incubation while third placed Medscripts Neds were given access to an online course, career fairs, and networking opportunities in tech.
