Accra, Ghana//-An Information Technology (IT) firm based in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital, Noni Hub has won the ultimate prize of MTN Ayoba MoMo Accelerator Competition Awards 2022.
The firm beat 17 other competitors across the country to win the ultimate prize. Noni Hub which currently has three micro apps on the MTN Ayoba platform received an amount of GH₵50,000, lifetime partnership with MTN Ayoba, certificate, and souvenirs from MTN Ghana and Ayoba as its prizes.
The IT and developing firm took home these prizes in the competition’s Top Tech Hub category, while Top Ayoba Influencer went to Damasko Smart App.
Also, Smithfield, an agribusiness app won in the Experts Choice category. In the Users Choice category, Africa Global Radio emerged ‘the Most Liked App’; and the Best MoMo Solution App went to Tudu Online Shopping app.
These other four winners received GH₵20,000 each, certificates, lifetime partnerships, including an opportunity to put their apps on Ayoba platform which has over 2.5 million active customers in Ghana and 21 million across Africa.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the Chief Executive Officer of Noni Hub, Sumaila Chakurah thanked MTN Ayoba for the recognition.
He also used the occasion to dedicate the ultimate prize to his team and the people of Wa and the whole of the Upper West Region for their support.
Speaking earlier, the Chief Digital Officer of MTN Ghana, Dario Bianchi, said there are over 40 micro apps on the MTN Ayoba, Africa’s super app.
Mr Bianchi while congratulating the award winners also assured: “We have strong security measures in place to protect our customers from cyber fraud”.
He noted that the MTN Ayoba app, which was launched in May 2019, became available to users in Ghana in 2020 and has so far provided exciting content for all users irrespective of their locations in the country.
Besides chatting for free via instant messaging, Ayoba offers access to an in-app music player which brings weekly updates on the latest African and international music.
Users can play a wide variety of free and exciting games ranging from action, adventure and children’s games as well as have access to one of the top global games-Subway Surfers.
It also has channels covering eight categories: news, sports, entertainment, health and fitness, fashion and beauty, education, and music.
Tracing the journey of the competition, the Manager of Digital Platforms of MTN Ghana, Ms Winnie Dzidonu said the digital team of MTN Ghana as part of the competition organised roadshows in Takoradi, Kumasi, Tamale and Accra to brief interested participants on details of the competition.
She explained that the competition is carved for the youth to ensure they drive the future with digital activities.
The competition has been created by MTN Ayoba for all the startup businesses in the various regions and tech developers at tech hubs in the country.
This is because they believe that the youth is the future, and they want to use digital to drive the future, she added.
The main objective of this is to push local businesses to leverage Ayoba as a platform to drive growth for both young businesses and to drive their services and products to customers outside, Ms Dzidonu told journalists in an interview after awards ceremony held at the MTN Ghana office in Accra yesterday.
MTN Ayoba is available on Google Playstore to all MTN and non-MTN customers in the digital ecosystem who wish to enjoy all service and rich media content Ayoba provides.
All MTN users are allowed to enjoy all these services and more on Ayoba for free- no data is required.
Instructively, MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy is to drive digital and financial inclusion across Africa, via Ayoba the company intends to reach 100 million monthly active users by 2025, ensuring more people reap the social, economic, and developmental dividends of being online.
