Dr. Tshiamo Motshegwa (pic courtesy of BizTech Africa)

In line with its vision of positioning Botswana as a leading destination of innovation in Africa, Botswana Innovation Hub has sponsored the mHealth Innovation Competition to the value of P40 000.  Premised on escalating healthcare costs, this youth competition endeavours to use the growth of mobile technology and social media to address healthcare challenges.

Said Tigele Mokobi, Botswana Innovation Hub PR Manager, “Botswana Innovation Hub in collaboration with the Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAiS) programme, has realised the importance of filling in the gaps in the country’s healthcare system through the use of mobile technology. The shortage of healthcare workers and infrastructure nationwide can be curbed with mobile devices; of which every Motswana has at least one on average”.

The mobile Health Innovation Competition, or mHealth Innovation Competition is being held for the 2nd year running. The coordinator of the competition, Dr Tshiamo Motshegwa from the University of Botswana has explained that the competition is an open event designed to engage and grow Batswana youth’s vision, talent and entrepreneurship and leverage the potential impact that mHealth can have on Botswana’s healthcare system.

Botswana Innovation Hub, through their various programmes, make a concerted effort to develop the youth through innovation. This can be demonstrated by their previous sponsorship of the Blackberry Jam Hackathon, the Microsoft Innovation Center’s workshops and under the auspices of their incubation and mentoring programme First Steps Venture Centre (FSVC).

Concluded Mr Mokobi, “It is our hope that this competition not only unearths useful innovations for the country’s healthcare sector, but also for the world at large. We at Botswana Innovation Hub will continue to be committed to offering a unique platform for scientific, technological and homegrown knowledge-based innovation”.