Calling African Developers - John Deere ICT4D Application Development Competition to Improve Access to Tractors for African Farmers (Deadline April 19th 2018)

To commemorate a century of innovation in tractors, Opportunity International partner John Deere is hosting the John Deere ICT4D Application Development Competition to improve access to tractors for African farmers. They’re inviting African developers to build the digital solutions that will shape the next century.

Making use of agriculture and technology in creative and unconventional ways will help improve access to affordable mechanization services for smallholder farmers in Africa.

Since teamwork is a big part of what has made John Deere successful, they are looking for applications from teams of three (3) to five (5) people, with at least one female, to register and compete.

Winners will be featured at the ICT4D 2018 Conference, attended by technology leaders from around the world. An esteemed team of judges will select (3) three finalists and announce the winning teams at the ICT4D 2018 Conference to be held in Lusaka, Zambia. The winning teams will receive USD$2,000, USD$1,000, and USD$500 for first, second and third place respectively.

Applications are due here by April 19, 2018: https://bit.ly/2GAK80W

Provide your email and click “next” to submit your application.

This is an opportunity for developers to create and submit technology tools that:

Improve the business case for smallholder farmers to own a tractor
Improve access to affordable mechanization services for smallholder farmers
Make use of agriculture and technology in creative and unconventional ways

THE PROCESS

Stage 1 - 28th March to 19th April 2018
Submission of applications

Stage 2 - 20th April to 25th April 2018
Shortlisting and selection of best 3 teams/solutions

Stage 3 - 27th April - 4th May 2018
Virtual support to best 3 teams

Stage 4 (Final) - 8th May 2018
Announcement of winners/Prize giving at the ICT4D conference in Lusaka, Zambia.

SELECTION CRITERIA:
The selection criteria is focused on the following four areas:

Originality & Innovation

How unique and original is your application idea? How well does your application compete against any competitors? How does your application make innovative usage of the mobile platform to meet users’ needs?

Business Model

How does your team plan on making this a successful business? Have you thought about (either solved or identified problems) competition, how to scale, acquiring customers, revenue model etc?

Customer Validation

Is your team building something that people actually want? How well does your team understand customers and their customer’s needs. Did your team get out and talk to customers? What is your value proposition to customers?

Execution & Design

Have you established a “Minimal Viable Product” (software, hardware, etc.)? *Note: an MVP is the minimum set of features to be able to start collecting data. Does it deliver a compelling and captivating user experience? Were you able to demo something functional?

PRIZES

DISCLAIMER

Participants will not submit content that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party intellectual property rights or other property rights.
Participants will not submit content that is unlawful or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense.
Participants will own the IP rights for all their work.
By participating in the competition, every participant or team of participants give its express consent to Organizers to use all information derived or relating to the Hackathon for all kind of marketing and promotional purposes (hereinafter: Marketing content). Marketing content shall be provided without any compensation for the participants and shall be worldwide, perpetual and irrevocable.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

Please provide the following links describing your idea (app or website), explain what your product is (software, technology, intervention, design, research, prototype etc) and how it works. Refer to the selection criteria:

Link to a demo video (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, Youtube etc) and/or
Link to the prototype (e.g. Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Website etc) and/or
Link to any supporting documents (e.g. Pitch Deck/Presentation, Project Write-up).

For more info: https://opportunity.org/john-deere-at-ict4d and enter your email address.

Official hashtags: #Apps4JD #ICT4D

ABOUT OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL

Opportunity International is a global nonprofit organization that helps people in developing countries work their way out of poverty. Since 1971, the organization has provided more than $12 billion in loans to help 24 million clients launch and expand businesses, feed and educate their children and create jobs in their communities. In 2017, more than 10 million clients in 22 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, were using an Opportunity International loan, savings account, insurance policy or training to improve their lives. Through microfinance and complementary products and services in education, agriculture and health, the organization has helped clients create or sustain 17.3 million jobs on the way to achieving its goal of 20 million jobs by 2020. More than 90 percent of Opportunity’s loan clients are women who would otherwise likely not have access to financial services because of legal and cultural gender inequities. The global headquarters of Opportunity International are in Chicago, with other key offices in Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The organization serves clients through a network of more than 23,000 people worldwide. Discover more at opportunity.org or join the conversation on facebook.com/opportunityintl and twitter.com/opportunityintl.

MEDIA CONTACT

Christina Koliopoulos | Opportunity International | 312.487.5064| CKoliopoulos@opportunity.org