The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has emerged as winner of the first episode of the UniGeek Challenge. At the end of the 5th and final round, they came tops with 52 points and took home some desktops to promote ICT at the UCC, laptops for the contestants, MTN turbo net, hampers from Cowbell, and a cheque for GHC4,000.00 for the two contestants who represented the University.

In second place was the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The two contestants took home GHC3,000.00, a tablet each, MTN turbo net and some hampers from Cowbell.

Third place was the Ghana Communication Technology University, formerly the Ghana Technology University College. They took home GHC2,000.00, a mobile phone each, products from MTN Pulse and hampers from Cowbell.

Central University came fourth and her two contestants took home GHC1,000.00, products from MTN Pulse and hampers from Cowbell.

The UniGeek Challenge, an initiative of Leann Consult, a strategic marketing and brand management consultancy and powered by MTN Pulse with support from the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Ltd. (GhIPPS), Electroland Ghana Ltd, Cowbell Coffee, CodeTrain Institute and GHOne TV, was launched on Friday, February 28, 2020. Originally slated for April, the battle eventually set sail in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although initially 9 tertiary institutions registered to partake in the competition, 7 finally took to the stage when it resumed in October. These were the CK- Tadem University in Navrongo, All Nations University in Koforidua, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, the Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU), Central University, University of Professional Studies all in Accra and the University of Cape Coast in Cape Coast.

Speaking ahead of the grand finale of Ghana’s first and biggest inter-tertiary ICT battle, the Project Director of Leann Consult, Mr Fiifi Banson noted that after being on hold for close to 6 months, the company was happy to have resumed the competition and gone through the process to the finals.

The Chief Marketing Officer of MTN, Mr. Noel Kojo-Ganson, indicated that ICT education was very critical in these times as it was the driving force of world economies and it behoved on all to acquire knowledge in this area of learning to stay relevant and be able to connect to the rest of the world. He said that as an enabler of opportunities, MTN saw UniGeek Challenge as a platform that challenged the minds of the young tertiary student to think and act digital as it created more awareness about the opportunities in the digital world.

Mr Ganson said that by partnering Leann Consult, MTN was powering the digital experience of the youth with their Pulse service which has a mixed bag of voice and data packages.

He congratulated the finalists and urged them to keep learning and researching on how ICT could be used to propel development in the country.