After the effort, the reward for the DigiCup participants; this Saturday, June 11, they were invited to a certificate presentation ceremony. As a reminder, the DigiCup, an inter-university digital solutions challenge, is organized by FINAM (Federation of Innovative & Numeric Activities In Mauritius), which brings together Mauritius’ ICT associations namely OTAM, MITIA, and CCI France Maurice, with the support of digital industry companies.
The 2nd edition of the DigiCup: sustained enthusiasm from student teams!
This 2nd edition of the DigiCup, an inter-university digital solutions challenge, was held weekly from Saturday, March 26 to Saturday, April 23, 2022, on the premises of the company SD Worx in Ebène. This challenge involves competing teams presenting a solution that solves a digital problem for an association. This situation allows teams to experience the “client-provider” relationship.
The teams represent the following higher education institutions: the University of Mauritius, the University of Technology, Polytechnics Mauritius, MCCI Business School, and Middlesex University. Companies in the sector adhere to this type of initiative, such as SD Worx, host of the event. “We are happy to support this rather unique competition organized by FINAM where young people are required to understand the needs of an NGO, help them, and therefore design a digital solution that is useful for society and its progress. This is part of SD Worx’s key values.” says Didier Béphage, Technology Director of SD Worx.
Bringing students and professionals together during bootcamps
By way of preparation, the teams benefited for 3 weeks from bootcamps in different fields such as pitch techniques, design thinking, project management methods like Scrum and Agile, customer experience or interface. Familiarization with these methods and tools used by companies promotes creativity and the realization of solutions that are as close as possible to stakeholder expectations. “Innovation is an integral part of Accenture’s DNA in Mauritius and the Digicup is one of the vectors that shapes the spirit of our students towards creativity, collaboration and innovation. Reason why Accenture continues to support this initiative and encourages students to give free rein to their imagination through technology.” affirms Riyad Ameerudden, Senior Manager of Accenture Technology.
These bootcamps facilitate students’ understanding of the expectations of the working world in the digital sector and bring the university world closer to the world of work.
The teams from the Université des Mascareignes and the University of Technology laureates of this 2nd edition of the DigiCup
After these weeks of preparation, the 17 teams presented their projects in person or by video-conference this Saturday, April 23, 2022. The winning teams are revealed:
The 1st prize is won by team Area 22 from the Université des Mascareignes, composed of Diksha Raghoonundun, Zahrah Kaliapermal and Dwijesh Raghoonundun. This team collaborated with the association Diabetes Safeguard – Diase. They designed a mobile application to help diabetic people take better care of their feet and obtain preventive advice. “We appreciated this first participation in a competition, despite our busy schedule with university classes. It is a good initiative to make us think about developing a digital solution to solve real problems. It is a good experience and we liked the bootcamps and the interaction between students from different universities and DigiCup partners.” declares Diksha Raghoonundun, captain of team Area 22.
The 2nd prize is won by team UTM Prime from the University of Technology, composed of Aditya Kumar Chandoo, Gavish Juggernauth, John Emmanuel Beesoo and Anaïs Wong Leung Yuen. They collaborated with the Blind and Visually Impaired Association (BAVIA). They developed a web application that allows a person with a disability to send their shopping list or service request to a grocery store. This request will then be transferred to volunteers who will handle the shopping. “This is the first time we have participated in a competition. We did not expect a second place. We are really happy!” the members of team UTM Prime told us.
The 3rd prize is won by team MindTech from the University of Technology, composed of Ajmal Taroo, Devesh Seegoolam, Manavshree Chutooree and Yayah Bankur. They collaborated with the association Zeness Exprime Toi (ZET). This team developed a web application that allows people in need to raise funds to finance their projects and to publicize events organized by the NGO ZET.
The Jury’s Choice award is given to team Triple’s A from the Université des Mascareignes, composed of Uzmah Saadyah Goomany, Dooshina Mootoocurpen and Henna Mehtab Rahman. They collaborated with the Century Welfare Association. Their project involves using the Nao robot to capture the attention of children with disabilities while teaching them and motivating them to perform physical activities during their therapy.
It was with great enthusiasm that the jury panel auditioned and questioned the projects. The projects were evaluated by a panel of high-level professionals:
- Heerish Cheeneebash, CSM, MBA Project Management, Accenture
- Preetam Bismohun, Application Development Associate Manager, Accenture
- Olivier MEYER Director, Aerow ECM World
- Krisna Rama, SAP Consultant, Clarity
- Sinan Alshaib, Senior Business Developer, Cyberskills
- Hasnah Adarsh, Senior Software Engineer, Elca
- Ashvin RAMANJOOLOO, Technical Manager and Software Architect, iQera
- Taariq Hussain Budullah, CEO & Founder, Itelligence Business Solutions
- Basile Marquefave, Manager, Le Wagon Mauritius
- Kushul Soomaree, Senior Front End Developer, Prodigious
- Doomesh Bhaugeerutty, Team leader Innovation Lab, Rogers Capital
- Nitish Sujeebun, Engineer Developer Bias, Payroll & Reward Germany, SD WORX
The winners were rewarded with high-tech gifts, training, and cash prizes. In total, gifts worth more than two hundred thousand rupees were won by all the winning teams. The majority of the teams expressed the wish to continue their projects to bring them to fruition. This represents a positive assessment for this event which includes a dimension of societal action. “This type of activity is fully in line with one of FINAM’s missions to be able to contribute to the training and supervision of people who will work in the digital sector.” maintains Olivier Meyer, Administrator of FINAM and of CCI France Maurice.
Debriefing session and certificate award ceremony
At the request of the participants, a debriefing session on the projects was organized online on Saturday, May 28. The members of the jury provided advice to the teams on their strengths and those to work on to improve their solutions. This exercise was very beneficial to the teams, the majority of whom wish to continue their projects. Finally, since the competition was hybrid (in person and online), a certificate ceremony was organized at the Accenture Technology premises on Saturday, June 11. This function was punctuated by testimonies of the academic and professional paths of the representatives of the DigiCup partners, thus exposing the different possibilities of career orientation in digital. It was an opportunity for participants to network between students from different universities but also with jury members and IT professionals.
Such an activity could not be held without the support of partners. Therefore, the organizers thank all their partners and sponsors which are SD Worx, Rogers Capital, Accenture, Elca, Itelligence Business Solutions, Cyberskills, Le Wagon Maurice, Prodigious Mauritius, Clarity, Aerow ECM World, iQera, Focus, Brand Avenue.
