Ruth Njeri Waiganjo From Kenya Crowned Ms. Geek Africa 2017
Ruth Njeri Waiganjo from University of Nairobi in Kenya beat four of her other competitors in the final held on the sidelines of Transform Africa Summit 2017, to be crowed the 2017 Miss Geek Africa the first of its kind in the continent.
Out of the five finalists that were chosen, four of the girls were from Rwanda.
The aim of the competition is to inspire African girls to be part of solving the continent’s challenges using technology and encourage them to choose a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).
Ruth Njeri Waiganjo developed a mobile application she dubbed Safe Drive, to ensure the road safety of road users. It is an innovative solution to respond to transport problems like frequent accidents. Her solution collects data through a mobile app and sensors, analyses it and the output is the profile of the driver.
In other words, her system is able to determine the behaviors of the drivers.
Her innovate product managed to win her 3 million RWF (roughly 13.2 million UGX) cash prize that was presented to her by First Lady Jeannette Kagame and a trip to attend the upcoming ITU Telecom World 2017 meet in Busan, South Korea – on the sidelines of the Transform Africa summit, which concluded yesterday at the Kigali Convention Centre.
and was awarded by the First Lady of Rwanda; Jeannette Kagame. (Photo Courtesy: The News Times – Rwanda)
Leah Akimana from University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology developed a digital mobile application she called ‘Bus System Simulator’ aimed at improving public transport in the country, in particular Kigali – was the first runner-up of the competition and was given RWF2 million (roughly 8.8 million UGX) and a trip to attend the upcoming ITU Telecom World 2017 meet in Busan, South Korea.
Delphine Micyomyiza from Groupe Scholaire Notre Dame De Lourdes was the second runner-up and was awarded RWF1 million (roughly 4.4 million UGX) for her solution, ‘Water Track’, which seeks to eliminate water theft in Kigali city by fixing sensor-enabled water meters to taps.
source: The News Times – Rwanda
