Vodafone Ghana in partnership with Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) has launched an application developers competition programme to empower and promote the growing App developer community in Ghana.

The annual competition dubbed “Hackathon” is focused on unearthing talents in the “mobile app” development sector in Ghana while projecting Vodafone as a leader in innovation and advancement in the telecoms sector of the country.

The three day programme which started on Thursday with focus on developing apps to promote Vodafone Cash has four key functional areas of Health, Entertainment, Agriculture and Finance.

Mr Julius Owusu Kyerematen, Director of Strategy and Innovations, Vodafone Ghana who launched the competition urged he participants to make good use of the opportunity set for them to showcase the unique innovation they can develop.

Mr Martison Obeng-Agyei, said reports have shown that 11 billion Cedis has been transferred through mobile money since 2009 in 106 transactions indicating a strong future for mobile money in Ghana.

Mr Obeng-Agyei asked the participants to make mobile money the epicentre of their ideas in the Hackathon project.

Mrs Akua Odoom, Managing Director of MEST speaking at the event said she is very positive about the solutions the initiative, stressing that it is important for Ghana to get a cashlight society through innovative applications that can be sustained.

“This is our very first Pan African Hackathon and I am very excited about it. It is therefore necessary that we support Vodafone in any way we can as innovators”, she said.

Mrs Odoom noted that MEST is a Pioneer of the software development and finds this platform as an advantage for its students across Africa to develop sustainable software.

“As an institution that wants to promote innovation in Africa, we have the facility, internet, and personnel to support participants with ideas and clear understanding of application development”, she said.