The 2nd MEST48 software development challenge on Monday, January 14, begun with a lot of optimism and promise of a great competition of ideas to develop innovative and brilliant software applications.

The competition aims at showcasing brilliant young students in the IT field in a competition to create real-world products that solve real-world problems and universal software solutions.

The event, open to students from MEST, Ashesi University and the Open University of West Africa (OUWA), had close to about 30 students from OUWA participating and about 6 from Ashesi university who together came to pitch their ideas in to develop software applications that could be useful to sectors like health, business, ticketing and easy payments.

The participants who formed groups of twos and threes are expected to start working to build a minimum viable product which should be a working prototype of the main idea as well as prepare a simple business plan for the idea. After 48 hours, the teams will have the opportunity to pitch their products to a panel of judges to select the top three products to receive prizes.

Speaking to some participants, they were optimistic of winning the competition saying they believed they had what it takes to develop applications needed, easy to operate by potential clients and ultimately to impress the judges.

According to organizers of the event, Wednesday 16th January is the final day for judgment where the participants will be presenting their ideas with the hope to impress the judges as they try to solve some teething problems of society with their applications.