Montserrat Hackathon team
by Bennette Roach
Dr. Sammy Joseph, leader of the Montserrat Hackathon team was already confident while waiting for the results of the OECS Business Solutions Think Tank and Hackathon competition created by the East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) as part of its Financial Information Month launch. Dr. Joseph hinted about his confidence his team would win the event. “We plan to make it a reality regardless of what happens because we think it’s a good idea so we are waiting for the final result,” he had said, while later adding, “so right now I’m still fairly confident that we did well.”
His confidence was certainly not mis-placed since when the announcement was made, team Montserrat was the winner of a business solution application called “Dgicrops”. The event took place in the environment which brought together youth, business owners, IT Technocrats, thought leaders and business professionals from across the ECCU via video conference to brainstorm, develop and produce a real functioning IT application solutions to problems faced by the private and public sectors. Dr. Samuel Joseph was Montserrat’s team leader of group that included, Manish Valechha; Jhovan Daniel; Dexter Small and Enver Browne.
Sharmaine Francois
Felicia Lynch
The team’s mentors were Mrs. Sharmaine Francois and Mrs. Felicia Lynch.
In making the announcement of the results for the first ever OECS Business Solutions Think Tank and Hackathon August 13 -15, spearheaded by the ECCB, Quintessence Consulting and eCaribbean Ltd., the release informed:
“After less than 48 hours of brainstorming, idea formulation and coding with guidance from mentors representing the top echelons of the OECS private and public sector IT community, the eleven teams comprising IT students, teachers, and other IT technocrats as well as entrepreneurs and thought leaders from across the eight countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) demoed their prototype applications to a panel consisting of 13 judges from the ECCU.”The judges worked on the following criteria – User Experience and Design; Innovation ; Impact Potential and Sustainability, and Sharing Resource/Collaboration .
At the end of their deliberations, first prize ($3,500.00) went to DigiCrops, Montserrat. The team amassed a total of 179 points.
Digicrops is an online marketplace for farmers to sell their goods to buyers. Farmers can take a picture of their produce insert the required info and then it will be viewed by buyers who can purchase the produce.
The objective is to simplify the process of selling vegetables and other crops in the Caribbean by connecting farmers directly to buyers. The data analysis and other statistical support that will be provided to farmers create added value that has the potential to enhance the planning and competiveness of farmers who use the app.
The other winners were: Second prize went to Clink (Caribbean Link), Antigua and Barbuda. The team totalled 139 points – $2,500; followed by Third prize winner, EdConnector.ai, Anguilla. The team amassed a total of 138 points, one point behind the second place winner – $1,000.00.
The award prizes were made by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for the continuing development of the product, provided by the winning teams.
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