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#gkVacWork Mpumalanga winners announced

Kirsten Doyle
By Kirsten Doyle, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 04 Dec 2017

Geekulcha, an organisation that empowers young 'geeks' through ICT skills development and training, has announced the winners of its Mpumalanga VacWork programme.

Each day, the programme ran from 9am to 4pm, and youngsters, divided into teams, would work on their start-ups, building products or services such as mobile apps, Web sites and electronic systems, using open source tools including Arduino and the IBM Watson for IOT platform.

Tiyani Nghonyama, COO of Geekulcha, said each group was treated as a start-up during the programme and seven mini-companies were created. "Up to 31 scholars took part, with 42% female participants, and the youngest participants only 11 years old."

The winners

Coming first, TechnoElectro Idols developed a Smartgeyer System. The group aims to develop and market innovative connected devices and tailor-made solutions for the Internet of things (IOT). The solution, dubbed 'Smartgey' uses sensors to determine the temperature of the water inside the geysers. Users can also choose to set a limit of the amount of water they want to use per bath.

WebWise came in second with its LYD Smart Info Web site. The Web site will give users daily updates on town affairs. In addition, it helps market upcoming projects, and creates new designs for young entrepreneurs by connecting them with companies. It will also focus on construction work, giving skills for the unskilled and unemployed youth, providing them with info on eco-friendly building materials for households.

In third place, the TechnoGen group developed an application that informs customers when load shedding is taking place. Users can also check on the application to determine their daily, weekly and monthly electricity consumption. In addition, they are rewarded with electricity points when they use electricity sparingly.

Green economy

This latest edition of the Geekulcha Vacation Work programme was hosted in Mpumalanga, at the Thaba Chweu Municipality from 27 November till 1 December. Throughout the week, the youngsters got to learn how to code and build tech start-ups, said Nghonyama.

According to him, the programme takes in a number of high school scholars, and puts them in a simulated and co-creative working environment, helping train them to build projects with ICT tools. "Youngsters spend their holidays with the geeks, and the Geekulcha crew and community get to mentor the students, taking them through the process of building tech solutions, and redistribute their skills and knowledge."

Powered by the Vulingqondo Innovation Hub, this programme focused on "Integrated Green Economy". Participants had to come up with ideas of how they would help their community realise and transition into the 'green economy.'

Finally, a debate was held to engage and stimulate the youngsters' minds, discussing issues such as social-relevancy. "Two rounds of the debate focused on government's efforts in ensuring a greener future and human effect on the acceleration of global warming," he concluded.

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