NoNi Hub, an Information Technology (IT) firm in Wa, has been adjudged the winner of the Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) AYOBA accelerator programme among seven IT Hubs in the country that participated in the programme.
The other six IT Hubs that participated in the programme were Hapaspace, Wan-Hive, HopIN Academy, iCode, Ispace, and Wizeey Academy.
Speaking in an interview with Info Radio in Wa on the feast chalked, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Noni Hub, Mr Sumaila Chakurah, expressed gratitude to the people in the region for their diverse support to the Hub in training start-ups which enabled them to win the award.
“We are so happy about it and we dedicate the award to the people of Upper West because they all contributed in one way or the other to ensure that we got this award.
We are all proud that we have been able to put the region in the spotlight and we have been able to sign a lifetime partnership with MTN and AYOBA and we only look forward to seeing what good thing can come out of it”, he explained.
AYOBA is a mobile application hosting platform that allows mobile application developers and businesses to upload their web and mobile-based applications onto the platform to make them accessible to users at no cost to the users.
The users could access resources including books, communications and calls, and music among others free of charge and had millions of users across countries where MTN operated.
Mr Chakurah explained that the Hub was looking at ways in which they could use the AYOBA platform to support business growth in the region.
“We will be rolling out a programme to educate people on the importance of the AYOBA platform and how they could upload their business mobile application onto the platform to enable them to increase sales using the AYOBA platform”, he said.
As part of the award, Noni Hub was given GH₵50,000.00 to support its operations, which Mr Chakurah said would be invested into training more start-ups and creating more business opportunities for the young people in the region and beyond.
“We are going to work assiduously to ensure that more start-ups within the region are also given the opportunity to get listed on the AYOBA platform and for us that’s the key thing, it’s not about the money.
The good thing is that once you are on the AYOBA platform people are able to reach out to you. They don’t need data to be able to reach out to you. Data is no longer going to be an excuse for customers not going on your platform”, Mr Chakurah added.
He encouraged businesses and start-ups that had mobile applications to visit the Hub to get them uploaded unto the AYOBA platform to increase their sales and profitability.
Mr Awal Mohammed, the Programmes and Business Development Officer at Noni Hub explained that the programme was to showcase the contribution of hubs to the development of the tech space.
He indicated that as part of the competition, hubs were expected to among other things, assist as many startups as possible, to be enlisted on the AYOBA platform, coordinate effective participation of the start-ups in virtual activities, and provide the start-ups with technical and business development support.
He said Noni Hub nurtured six start-ups in diverse industries such as transport (My Keke), food delivery, and E-Commerce among others who participated in the AYOBA Accelerator programme to enable the Hub to emerge as the winner.
Mr Mohammed intimated that programme was not without challenges to the Hub but that they were able to surmount the challenges which included internet connectivity for the start-ups throughout the three months programme period.