A competition aimed at developing an online marketing platform for vendors of agricultural products in the markets of Maputo city was launched a few days ago at the Innovation Space, Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM).
Called Hacking Marketplace, the competition will involve teams of young programmers and designers, with the help of a team of mentors and other professionals, who will participate in a 72-hour programming marathon.
The event is part of a program funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is implemented by the UEM’s Innovation Space, in partnership with the Maputo City Council, the National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique and the Marketplace Vendors Commission.
At the opening of the event, which took place via Zoom, Cristino López, UNDP representative, said that the activity is inserted in the range of strategies of this organization of the United Nations (UN) to respond to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, through digital transformation.
To the competitors, López said it is a unique opportunity to, through innovation and creativity, help citizens access better online sales services for agricultural products. “You as young people will have to look for solutions so that the market can offer quality products to the citizen,” he said.
The winning team will receive a cash prize of 200 thousand meticais
In his turn, the manager of the Innovation Space, António Moraes, explained that 50 teams compete in the competition, from which 10 will be selected for the next phase. Each group is composed by a developer, a designer and a business manager.
Speaking on behalf of the Municipal Council, César Cunguara noted that the platform will contribute to expose the potentialities of the agricultural products to be commercialized. Cunguara said he hopes that the winning application will be accessible and user-friendly, given the profile of the Mozambican seller, and that it will later be able to cover the 63 markets in the country’s capital.
After the winning team has been selected, a follow-up and mentoring period will follow until June 30 to improve the application. The winning team will receive a cash prize of 200,000 meticais.
