MoWallet wins the #HackJozi challenge

By Staff Writer

Technology firm MoWallet walked away with the bragging rights and a cool R1 million after winning the inaugural #Hack.Jozi Challenge.

The #Hack.Jozi Challenge is an initiative between the City of Johannesburg and the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) at Wits University, which is aimed at unearthing techno-savvy individuals and SMMEs with great solutions to the city’s everyday problems.

MoveThis Stuff and Lazy Lizzard each received R350 000 cash incentives for clinching second and third places respectively.

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau said the #Hack.Jozi Challenge and other techno-centric projects were an integral part of the City’s future plans.

“It is important to consider this programme as part of what we as the City of Johannesburg consider a benchmark in the Smart City strategy. This strategy sees data access count not as a luxury but as a social and economic necessity, as essential as breathing.”

MoWallet impressed the judges with its PopAppsDeals tool, an easy-to-use, cost-saving application through which customers can redeem coupons in exchange for specific products at their nearest spaza shop.

“Winning this prize will enable MoWallet to create a distribution network across spaza shops in townships and rural areas. We are currently running a pilot in Soweto and we will expand on that. By January next year we expect to have reached more than 1 000 spazas,” said MoWallet founder Desmond Mongue.

MoveThisStuff seeks to take the hassle out of moving house or office by linking customers to logistics a service provider in a few easy steps, while Lazy Lizzard provides parents with an easy and interactive way to keep an eye on their children’s scholastic performance and help out with homework.

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