GALLERY: Meet the Hack Jozi Winners
BRAAMFONTEIN – Desmond Mongwe of MoWallet was awarded R1 million for his ground-breaking digital idea on 8 July.
Desmond Mongwe from MoWallet has won the Hack Jozi Challenge.
The Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg Parks Tau announced the top three winners of the challenge at Wits University on 8 July.
Since last year November, the competition saw different business people developing the best digital solutions to everyday problems.
Mongwe of MoWallet was awarded a whopping R1 million for his ground-breaking idea.
His idea will provide townships and rural residents with coupons to use at their nearest spaza (tuckshop) to purchase specific products in a
fast-moving consumer goods environment. The newly-minted winner said he deserves to win because his project addresses township economy revitalisation and it will create employment.
“It feels great to have won. The money is going to be put in the project, and the first thing is to target the shops that need to participate in our programme because in South Africa we have 600 000 spaza shops,” Mongwe said.
He has been a Java developer for 12 years.
He has won every innovative competition he has participated in.
And he doesn’t think there’s any particular secret to his success.
On his journey to be an entrepreneur, he won the first Soweto start-up weekend competition which landed him the innovation hub in July.
In October he won another competition.
“If you look at a competition that has to do with social entrepreneurs and solving economic problems that’s where everything adds value.”
“It looks like every time when I enter a competition I win,” he blithely added.
Meanwhile, Niel Pieters of Lazy Lizzard and Percy Lawrence of MoveThisStuff were both awarded R350 000 each.
