Day 1 of the conference kicked off in high spirits amid full house with pitches from Applications in Mobile Society Category; kytabu, iDaktari, Ecademy Africa, Skoobox and Codevision in the first session. The second session had pitches from Applications in the Enterprise Category; Meka, SchoolMaster Solutions, Mank & Tank, Echorest Technologies and SleepOut. The final session of the day had pitches from applications from the Applications in Entertainment Category; Jooist, Tokelezea, 254Events, Tivi and Matatu. Day 2, the final day, too, preceeded with a high turn up. The fourth session: Applications in Utility Category were; TrueDine, The Diet Assistant Ltd, Habari App, SmartShop and Ma3route. The fifth and last session: Applications in Finance Category included; intelworld ltd, GO Finance, inforex Africa ltd, M-Duka, DEPHICS Ltd. Read in-depth about the finalists here… The pitches were organized in sessions to allow fireside chats, well moderated, in discussing of the regional problems and solutions for the mobile eco-system. Also, amongst different presentations by high profile stakeholders, vital information was passed on to the audience. The conference concluded with an exquisite Gala Award Dinner where the winners of each category –with funding worth $10,000 per winning finalist–were announced. They are:
- Mobile Society Category: Kytabu from Kenya
- Enterprise Category: SleepOut.com from Kenya
- Entertainment Category: Kola Studios(Matatu) from Uganda
- Utility Category: Ma3Route from Kenya
- Finance Category: GO Finance Company Ltd from Tanzania All finalists were applauded for the enormous time they had invested right from development, iteration and pitching their solutions that seek to provide solutions to the commonest local problems. Intel, the gold sponsor for the event, handed atop the prize money, each of the five finalists 5 brand new Intel-based tablets. Special thanks went to the sponsors; Intel, Uganda Communications Commission(UCC), National Information Technology Association of Uganda(NITA), Facebook, MTN, Nation Media Group among others. The judges and panelists were thanked for producing the decisive analyses of the day. Richard Zulu’s close collaboration with Moses Kemibaro, the producer of Pivot East and the behind-the-scene personnel was highly appreciated for making this event such a success. As norm has it; all good things come to an end, Pivot East 2013 did. Now waiting for Pivot East 2014. Image Caption: Kola studios’ team after emerging victor in Entertainment category with Matatu.
