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US$25 000, attracted 43 software developers from across the country.
The selection process lasted two full working days resulting in the shortlisting of only six finalists.
Under the challenge mobile application and web developers were given an opportunity to expand their ideas into primary commercial solutions which exposed them to the real ICT industry.
Jumpstart public relations officer Clinton Mutambo said the main focus of the challenge was to promote the creation of localised solutions for us by us.
“Instead of always looking to Mumbai, India, for solutions, we need to utilise the great talent that we have that needs support to become serious local incubators,” he said.
Day one involved the recruitment and registration of competitors from across the country and the trimming of the groups and individuals from 43 to 10.
Day two saw the last 10 groups and individuals pitching up for the shortlisting of finalists.
After day two the groups were trimmed to six although only five groups were supposed to go through.
The inclusion of one extra group came after a highly spirited contest involving the 10 groups that made it to the second round.
Despite their failure to make it into the last six the four groups that bowed out had presented some very interesting ideas.
One of the four groups, Ziguru, had unique applications that sought to revolutionise the way people buy and sell books by presenting an online electronic version protected against illegal duplication. The application was also aimed at saving on printing costs.
Ndafara Matambo made a presentation of an offline directory, which facilitated easy access to local companies.
Sir Nirge came up with an application called Nyngi, a platform where people will have to speak out and share comments on certain specific service provided for transparency.
It also encompassed a web co-hosting platform where one could quickly post his/her company details to be hosted online.
Meanwhile, the last six finalists got an early cash payout of US$500 each to polish up their projects prior to the final round of judging.
The CEO of Hansole, Jacob Mutisi, made a presentation on his lost and found application.
He highlighted that the application was aimed at assisting the Zimbabwe Republic Police to locate the owners of thousands of lost and found items in their possession.
This was primarily because most of the people were not coming forward to claim the properties or particulars because most of them did not even know that they had been found.
Another group unveiled their Mtutor application, which is an SMS-based Internet platform mobile tutor design mainly targeting primary schoolchildren.
The application allows more than one pupil to log in and attempt some quizzes that are preloaded.
The quizzes are designed in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture’s syllabus.
The application is meant to encourage a learning culture among pupils via technology.
The next application presentation was the Real Livestock Marketing System (RLMS) that sought to revolutionise cattle trading.
The designer of the application, Mr Allister Banks, explained that the online cattle trading system was convenient for cattle farmers as it saves them from engaging in expensive marketing of their livestock.
The system enables them to quickly upload information onto a website and secure the highest bidder including transportation.
Jacob Shamhuyarira of Qurious Consulting also came up with an education-related application that has potential to change the way students, teachers and parents relate.
This application makes it possible for parents to remotely monitor their children’s progress.
It also allows parents to input basic information on health concerns of the pupils such as allergies.
This will be useful in cases of emergency where the pupil falls sick while at school and it’s not practically possible to contact the parent or guardian.
In such an event the school headmaster and teacher can quickly pull out the pupil’s file and medical history for the child to get appropriate medical attention.
The application is also handy when it comes to the generation of school reports and memos.
Nimbus founder Taps Murove’s pitch was on a mobile- based crowd sourcing application which allows registered users to ask any question concerning any topic of their choice to a certain group of people with the same interests.
The application automatically collects the most common answer and pushes it back to the sender.
Unlike Facebook where you can get opinions from friends in your circles, the application is not limited to one’s friends and it is also SMS-based, hence much more convenient.
Soccer fans were also represented by an application and a web-based service called FootballZone.
Its co-founder Mr Godwin Thierry Chiparaushe emphasised the need for a local soccer-updating portal in an environment where mostly the print media leads in updates.
He says he is working closely with local football clubs to get all the relevant information available online and also provide up to the second updates on local sport.
After the final round of presentations judges will be deliberating on the score with the final results expected to be announced tomorrow at 10am and most of the finalists are keeping their fingers crossed.  
The panel of judges is comprised of ZOL CEO and founder David Behr; Mr Bester Zambuko, the founder and managing director of Adrenaline Advertising and Design Consultants; and Geoff Goss, an ex-regional director for Compaq Computer Group Corp.
Others included Leon de Fleuriot de la Coliniere, a CTO of iBurst Africa; and Chief Commercial Officer at Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Matthew Masiyazi, who has experience in developing and implementing mobile and internet-based database and e-commerce applications for various organisations and businesses in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.
The winning team will walk away with US$5 000 cash seed funding and US$5 000 worth of Internet services.
The first runner-up will receive US$2 500 cash seed funding and US$2 500 worth of Internet services and the second runner-up will get US$2 500 cash seed funding and US$2 500 worth of Internet services.
There will be follow-on mentorship in addition to the prizes. Other corporate players should emulate ZOL’s social responsibility cause to support and drive our local technology sector forward.

The writer is a computing specialist with TechnoMag, more on our Facebook page http://facebook.com/ technomagzw. LIKE our facebook page for free airtime  giveaways. Website http://tech.co.zw. Twitter @technomagzw. Email: [email protected]/ictarticles@ tech.co.zw