Tigo Tanzania is a leading innovative telecommunication company in the country, distinguished with a fully-fledged digital lifestyle brand from a diverse product portfolio in voice, SMS, high-speed internet and mobile financial services. They boast of pioneered innovations such as Facebook in Kiswahili, TigoPesa App & iOS users, Tigo Music (Deezer) and East Africa’s first cross-border mobile money transfer with currency conversion.
Tigo has come together with a non-profit organization called Change for Leaders to look for Change Leaders in Tanzania who are driven with a passion to make a difference for children by turning their entrepreneurial dreams into sustainable and scalable ventures with the power to alter societies hence creating better lives for children came up with a competition dubbed Digital Changemakers.
Digital Changemakers is a competition looking for social entrepreneurs working towards improving the lives of communities and impact future generations massively using digital tools and technology to scale and grow your impact. A total of 2 winners will be selected and awarded a cash prize of $20,000 and earn a place in a support program which includes coaching and mentoring to help them develop a sustainable initiative enterprise.
Started five years ago, previous winners (8 in number) of the competition have touched the lives of over 250,000 children in Tanzania through their innovations.
This year sees two young entrepreneurs namely Sophia Mbega and Nancy Sumari who will not only receive a cash prize bu also gain access to Tigo and Reach for Change Incubator Program, where they’ll be provided advice, expertise and access to global networks, enabling them to build financially sustainable social enterprises that create lasting, large scale change to the community.
- Sophia Mbega’s digital initiative popularly known as VICOBA (Village Community Banks) is geared towards helping self-help women groups through her mobile app which has a collaborative platform that uses tools for financial and task management adaptable to the African Context. It allows users regardless of where they are, can transfer money from their mobile wallet to their Vicoba group account (directly from the app by using an USSD code), view all of their financial records, profit generated, weekly reports, etc.
- Nancy Sumari’s initiative, dubbed JENGA HUB, focuses on foundation knowledge for children. Through the hub and co-creation space for kids, she teaches computer programming, robotics and coding skills to primary school children. The hub also exposes children to learning basic Information and Communication Technology such as programming skills that can in turn be used for creation of a range of educational and entertainment content.
“It’s with great pleasure to announce winners of this year’s Tigo Digital Changemakers Competition. The Digital technology is not only changing the way we do business in Africa but also revolutionizing the way we perceive and solve social development challenges. It is therefore with great honor that we will once again create an opportunity for such ideas to be recognized, supported and transformed to maximize social and economic impact,” said Diego Gutierrez, Tigo Tanzania Managing Director.
They truly deserve the awards for what seems to be a life saver and an impact changer for the community of Tanzania through this digital platforms. We can only encourage more and more entrepreneurs to be a symbol of hope through innovation meant to improve the living standards of the community they address.
