Game-Based Learning Apps Win in Youth Competition

In April 2021, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Feed the Future Business Drivers for Food Safety (BD4FS) launched the Youth Food Safety Application Competition. The competition sought young software developers to develop innovating learning approaches about food safety, especially among young entrepreneurs. BD4FS, implemented by Food Enterprise Solutions (FES), and its partner Feed the Future Youth in Agriculture (YiA), implemented by Virginia Tech University, worked with technical judges chosen from among Senegal’s finest professionals in the field. A total of 14 young developers entered the competition, from which 10 finalists were invited to pitch their concepts to the panelists.
Three concepts out of the ten emerged as finalists:
- Samba the Fisherman from Soumbédioune presented by Angelo Dafia, founder of Korapps, a software engineering business;
- The SSA Quiz (Food Safety Quiz) presented by Cheikh Omar Kane and Racine Ofens Seck, freelance developers; and
- NA RESS AK JAM presented by Mamadou Jean Baptiste Niassy and Cedric Adougba of Hatice Technology.
The top two winners received six months of technical and marketing support by Volkeno, an IT firm hired by YiA. BD4FS food safety experts provided technical advice on food safety.
The winners and all competitors were celebrated during the awards ceremony that took place on
August 20, 2022, supported by a crowd of aspiring young entrepreneurs and students at the Douta Seck Cultural Center. The event provided an opportunity for these enterprising developers to test their marketing skills acquired with their mentors from BD4FS and YiA.
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Game Based Learning Apps Win in Youth Competition