Over the weekend I headed down to Jumeirah Lake Towers to witness the amalgamation of some of the brightest minds in the software development industry as both students and professionals took part in the Emirates Islamic Appathon, a joint venture by Emirates Islamic and Square Circle Tech.
The event opened with a few words by Wael Ibrahim, the Chief Operating Officer at Emirates Islamic, who talked about how he initially went into app development but later switched to a financial field, something he regretted but hoped would inspire the participants to pursue their dreams of making the best app over the 24 hour period allocated.
There were 5 categories participants could choose to design an app around: Customer Acquisition, Affluent Millennials, Small & Medium Enterprises, Customer Engagement and Youth.
Customer Acquisition requested participants to build an app that will acquire customers for Emirates Islamic by tapping into a pool of unbanked young teens, senior citizens and expats. The Affluent Millennials category need an app that would help affluent individuals and high net worth millennials to manage their own banking needs and financial interests. Those who opted to create an app for Small & Medium Enterprises would have to code and app that would help SME run their businesses effectively by smartly integrating their financial and banking needs. Customer Engagement needed an app that would keep customers entertained while waiting in a branch lounge, one that would engage them in an interactive and fun way while they wait to be served. Lastly, the Youth category focused on designing an app that would help young children manage their own banking needs and financial interests, by encouraging them to save money and learn how to make good financial decisions early in life.
Participants instantly put their heads together and hacked for over 24 hours after which the 60+ teams got whittled down to 40+ in a prescreening process. The 40+ teams then went ahead and pitched their app to the judges, who awarded points based on the business value of the app, the degree of innovation that went into it, the user experience and a short demo of the app.
After the nearly 5 hour long pre-screening and judging process the winners were finally announced, but not before Jamal Bin Ghalaitha, the CEO of Emirates Islamic, gave a keynote speech, outlining that the nearly 200 participants were all winners in their own right for working hard over the 24 hour period.
The runner ups were awarded mentorships by Square Circle Tech.
Both the winners would also receive awards from Microsoft Gulf.
InternsME also played a part at the Emirates Islamic Appathon, awarding 3 teams.
