2 entrepreneurs win Sh90m
One of the winners in the Tigo Reach For Change, Ms Neema Shosho (left), displays a certificate after it was presented to her by the Swedish ambassador to Tanzania, Ambassador Katarina Rangnitt, in Dar es Salaam yesterday. With them are the Tigo Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Shavkat Berdiev (right), and country manager for the Reach For Change Programme, Mr Peter Nyanda. PHOTO|THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
- Tigo hopes the two winners will impact on lives of many Tanzanians
- The competition aims at identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs with technology to improve communities
Dar es Salaam. Tigo Tanzania and a non-profit organization, Reach for Change, yesterday awarded $40,000 (about Sh88 million) to two winners of the 4th edition of the Tigo digital change-makers social entrepreneurship initiative. Each of them received $20,000 (about Sh44 million).
The competition aims at identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs with technology to improve communities and impact future generations.
This year, the money went to Neema Shosho and Bihage Edward.
Through her company Afya Slices, Shosho has designed an innovative digital toolkit that will provide mobile nutrition information that provides information on how to use locally-available foods to improve nutritional status of children.
Edward seeks to eradicate child labour through digitizing educational materials about the vice and disseminates information through short message services and MP3 to create awareness about child labour.
Tigo Chief Commercial Officer Shavkat Berdiev said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the company hopes the two winners will impact on lives of many Tanzanians.
“For four years now, our change-makers have touched the lives of over 10,000 children in Tanzania and we believe that with the addition of these two change-makers, we will impact on the lives of more children and help to make Tanzania a better place for our generation to live in,” he said.
Gracing the event, the Swedish ambassador to Tanzania, Ambassador Katarina Rangnitt, said the project has proved to be helpful to social entrepreneurs as it enhances a digital lifestyle. She said it creates opportunities for innovative ideas to be recognised, supported and transformed to scale the social impact to the Tanzania community.
The Swedish Development Cooperation has pledged to support Tigo and Reach for Change in the Tigo digital change-makers’ initiative.
According to Mr Berdiev, Tigo is currently supporting seven Changemakers, five of whom have a digital focus.
“Carolyne Ekyariisma, for example, teaches basic and complex computer skills to young girls aged 10-18 and has managed to reach over 500 students in 2014 alone,” she said of one of the projects that the telecommunication firm supports.”
