MTN Business extends deadline for App of the Year submissions

App developers who may miss the 14 September MTN Business App of the Year submission deadline shouldn’t be despondent — MTN Business has extended the deadline for the sixth edition of the awards to 18 September.

In a press release today, Mandisa Ntloko, MTN Business SA’s general manager of enterprise marketing, said the decision to extend the cut-off date for entry submissions is in response to requests for an extension from the app-development community.

The overall winner of the MTN Business App of the Year will walk away with a prize to the value of R200 000.

The prize money will go towards meeting the joint strategic goals with the winners via the MTN Start-up Programme, an initiative that seeks to assist innovators to turn their solutions into commercially viable and sustainable businesses through the potential of accessing MTN’s 231 million-strong subscriber base.

MTN said it has already received a plethora of app submissions from throughout the country for various categories. These entries will be considered in the following categories:

• Best Enterprise Solution
• Best Consumer Solution
• Best Incubated Solution
• Most Innovative Solution
• Best Breakthrough Developer
• Best Educational Solution
• Best South African App
• Best Agricultural Solution
• Best Health Solution

In line with its quest to adjust to the ever-evolving technology landscape, the MTN Business App of the Year Awards has introduced three new categories this year, namely:

• Best Gaming Solution – with a focus on African gaming.
• Best Women in STEM Solution – for submissions by women and girls in the field of science, technology, engineering and maths.
• Best Financial Solution – for submissions that provide financial solutions to customers of the financial sector.

App developers can submit their entries by going to: appoftheyear.co.za.

The MTN Business App of the Year Awards has grown in leaps and bounds since its launch six years ago. From its humble beginnings with 50 apps submitted in its maiden year, the competition attracted over 500 entries in 2016.

The competition has given impetus and catalysed the commercialisation of a number of apps, which are commonly used today:

SnapScan — The payment app that emerged as the overall winner in the 2013 edition of the competition, is one of the success stories of the MTN Business App of the Year Awards. The online payment portal has since been bought by one of the big four banks in South Africa, and is now used by over 20 000 merchants throughout the country.

WumDrop — The on-demand delivery startup, walked away with the Best Enterprise App and was the Best Overall App in 2015. Operating in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the app enables users to pick up and drop off anything throughout the country.

Domestly — The company was crowned the overall winner at last year’s event, as well as taking home the Best Consumer App title. The app makes it easier to browse, book and pay a cleaner, and enables cleaners to manage their bookings, money and find maps and directions to each client.

Tuta-Me — This on-demand service links learners and teachers. Tuta-me won Best Enterprise Development App at the 2016 awards, growing their base by over 2000 users on their platform. The developers behind the app have managed to raise significant funding for their business since taking the 2016 accolade.

Preliminary judging and final adjudication for the MTN Business App of the Year Awards will commence shortly after the 18 September deadline. The grand prize winner and frontrunners in each category will be announced at a gala awards event, which will be hosted in Johannesburg on 12 October.

Updates on the competition will be posted on @MTNBusinessZA on Twitter.