Four Africans win global technology prize in ‘Make Reality Challenge’

Four Rwandan students enrolled at the African Leadership University beat tough competition from 10,000 other Rising Leaders to emerge winners at the first ever global ‘Make Reality Challenge’ organised by the Project Management Institute (PMI), a non-profit, professional association and advocacy group.

The competition was open to college and university students between 18 and 24. Nearly 5,900 ‘Make Reality Challenge’ teams across 65 countries were tasked with identifying a problem and developing a solution related to one of the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in support of this year’s theme, ‘Disruption for Social Impact’. The contestants had to bring creative and strategic solutions to life using no-code/low-code tools while making a social impact.

“By empowering and enabling them to drive social change through initiatives like the Make Reality Challenge, we’re providing the young innovative thinkers an opportunity to build useful solutions to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges,” said Ashwini Bakshi, Managing Director Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa, Project Management Institute.

According to Bakshi, PMI believes in the power of ‘Rising Leaders’, and posits that UbuzimaPrivacy will not only benefit Rwanda but Africa as a whole. “It’s exciting to see four young students from Africa win and it speaks to the potential of other Rising Leaders in the region”.

Tech Era won $10,000 and an opportunity to participate in an interactive question and answer session at the PMI’s virtual experience series 2022 (PMXPO). PMXPO is a free, interactive event for the project management profession to learn from key players in the industry, network, earn PDUs and gain valuable knowledge.

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Competing as Tech Era, Tuyishime Josiane, Nar Lo Dia, Mukantwari Francoise and Chukwuma Paul, ideated and developed UbuzimaPrivacy, an innovative platform that will help hospitals record patient data online (including testing, results, prescriptions, and illness trajectory).

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A three-strand rope is not quickly broken. A four-legged hyperstatic system table is stronger than an isostatic system,” said Chukwuma Paul of Team Tech Era, while speaking on the win.

The second place was clinched by Team EmEducation from the Emlyon Business School in France, while the third place went to Sport Sharks from the University of Mumbai and the Institute of Chemical Technology in India. A number of regional prizes were also awarded to teams from around the world.