Help! The Young and Talented Needs Help

Over the years, nations and countries have organized contests, and celebrated their beautiful and handsome young women and men based on their physical appearance and ability to answer challenging questions. However, presently, that culture is being abused, as we now hear of people organizing Miss hot legs, Miss Bom Bom, and all sorts of crazy contests; and funny enough they have patrons and sponsors, those who should invest in better things. The world is changing rapidly and it is good to know that at least some people are really digging deep to discover new things.

On August 10, 2018, InformationNigeria reported that five students of Regina Pacis College, Onitsha, Anambra State grouped as Team Save A Soul won gold at Technovation Challenge 2018 held in Silicon Valley, California. The report had it that The Technovation Challenge tasks girls aged 10-18, working in teams of 1-5 with creating a mobile app that addresses a problem in their own community.

The Nigeria girls from Regina Pacis College, Onitsha who have now become Africa’s Golden Girls developed FD-Detector (Fake Drug Detector) to help consumers identify and avoid the intake of fake drugs in Nigeria. The girls plan to partner with the agency responsible for drug regulation in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food & Drug Administration and Control.

Another team from India identified as Team Cantavits also won by developing an application named Eedo; which will help to track and dispose of electronic waste in an eco-friendly manner. The application provides an end-to-end connection between e-waste producers and authorized recyclers.

Ideal Olive commends Tara Chklovski, CEO & Founder of Iridescent for organizing the Technovation Challenge 2018 and World Pitch Summit. A competition of such was proposed by an agency sometime in 2015, for talented teenagers to register and come with their products for a competition in Ebonyi state, after which the winners will go home duly rewarded; but I guess it didn’t take place after all, for lack of sponsorship. Competitions like this deserve to be patronized and sponsored. Such competitions will task the young people to engage their minds to creative and innovative ventures. Sponsorship of irrelevant contests like Miss Bom Bom, Miss Hot Legs and other contests of like manner, that has no productive value will only drive Nigeria deeper into mental, material and financial poverty.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi