The 17th of May saw the mobile web application training organized by the coalition of mFriday and Mobile Web Ghana take off. This much awaited workshop was the very first to be organized outside the capital, Accra. It was centered on training its thirty-two applicants in mobile web development, mobile app development, business models, business plans and start-ups.
The thirty-two trainees were all students, only three of which were not mFriday members. These three were quick, however, to join the outstanding mobile web lab. The trainers of the workshop were skilled and experienced personnel from all walks of life. Their portfolios and brain power put together would be a great force to be reckoned with. They were Franco Papeschi (follow @bobbywatson), Alfred Anyan (follow @alfredanyan), Francis Addai (follow @faddai), Nii Okai Quaye (follow @papaspiro), Eyram Akofa (IM: wuzutags), Prof. Astrid Twenebowa (follow @twenebowa) and Godwin Amefia (follow @gamefia). It will only be described as cruel if I left out Florence Toffa (follow @florencetoffa), Robert Okine (follow @bobby4tweet) and Pierre Brunache, Jr. (follow @pierrebru). They were largely responsible for making the programme see the light of day.
Thus, the three week programme took place on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology campus in Kumasi. The institution was on recess for its summer vacation and hence this presented the trainees an ideal opportunity to learn without much distraction. The trainees were taken through User Experience/Interface, Voice Applications, SMS Applications, Mobile Web Applications, Business Models and Plans, Java and Android Development. These were taught to enable them start viable software companies to solve the myriad of problems that currently plague the country and the continent as a whole. Great resources on these subjects can be found at lynda.com and mobilewebghana.org.
One notable occurrence during the training was when the trainees were given a little under 24 hours to present products or services to a panel of judges. They did not disappoint, however, and showed the power of teamwork as the four teams came up with wonderful services. The services were m-shop, tran-sms, NHIS notification and Admin-Alert. Remember, all this under 24 hours! This sort of hard work, determination and clinical execution was the norm during the three week programme. Partcipants battled on with sessions often lasting from 8 am to 8pm. Even holidays and weekends were not exempted. This did not deter them but only fueled them on as they unknowingly wrote the beginnings of great stories of the not-so-far future.
On the final day, the participants presented their three week old start-ups and it was made clear that a new generation of tech-preneurs had just been given birth to. These start-ups are GH-Alert, mAttach, GO-Invest, Cadsy SMS, Serv-SMS, I-Track, SSNITAX and E-scheduler. These six start-ups cover a variety of industries in the country from education to health and even to the hospitality industry. As the saying goes, the sky is indeed the limit!
Photos of the training can be seen at http://www.mfriday.org/gallery/mfridaymwg-training.
