Some teenage girls from Regina Pacis Secondary School in Onitsha Anambra State, made the country proud when they emerged winners of the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California, United States.
The team, Save-A-Soul, developed a mobile application which they dubbed ‘FD Detector’ to tackle the problem of fake pharmaceutical products in the country.
The Team Nigeria was selected from 2,000 mobile app developers to represent Africa at the world pitch.
The Nigerian girls out-performed teams from the United States, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China to become the first Nigerian team to win the competition.
Acting president of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Amambra State Governor, Mr. Willie Obiano expressed their delight at the girls’ performance which put Nigeria’s name in the global map of technology innovators.
“These young ladies in Junior Secondary School developed a mobile application called ‘FD Detector’ to tackle the problems of fake pharmaceutical products in Nigeria. Yesterday, they won the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California. Congratulations! We are very proud of you,” Osinbajo stated using his twitter handle.
Obiano who was not physically present at the award presentation said Regina Pacis is a mission school reputed for very high standard. While congratulating the girls for the feat, he said fake drugs has been a major problem in his part of the country.
The teenage girls will have the opportunity of pitching their app to investors in the Silicon Valley.
According to the team, Nigeria has the largest market for fake drugs, and they plan to partner with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), using the app, to tackle this challenge.
Technovation is a program that invites girls to identify a problem in their communities and then challenge them to solve them by developing apps.