Rwanda is known to be home to some of the most beautiful women in the world. And, the search for the finest girl to crown “Miss Rwanda”, is one of the most intense beauty contests there is.
Both local and international judges assemble to assess the beauty pageants on their poise, excellent social skills and an ability to answer challenging questions.
The judges make the tough decision of who meets these demands above all others and the winner is crowned Miss Rwanda a position supported with various prizes, entitlements, salary and advertisement deals.
With a wide spectrum of qualities displayed by contents, judges are always confronted with the decision to choose the winner.
However, organisers discovered there is more to the Rwandan girls than their beauty; tech-savviness.
The Crown Miss Rwanda Kundwa Doriane.
In 2014, ‘Miss Geek’ pageant contest was introduced. Criteria? Brain power.
Last year, the contest was held in Kigali City, during Women’s Day celebration.
Guests were caught off guard. The girls looked shabby, with no makeup. No cat-walks. “It seems like some sort of beauty pageant, but what would be the physical qualities?” John Kagabo, one of the guests wondered.
Suddenly a contestant walked to the stage and there was a moment of silence. With immense curiosity, the crowd impatiently waited for the next move.
Facing the audience, a contestant went berserk; pitching a complex tech-business idea.
One of the organizers and judges, Vanessa Umutoni, a software developer at Pivot Access, an ICT company and a member of the ‘Girls in ICT’ organisation, says the primary qualification for Miss Geek is to have a project with a unique technology aspect.
At the contest, girls identify a problem affecting their community and provide a technology-based solution.
Miss Geek contest has broken the stereotypes that science is for men, says Umutoni. The thousands of Rwandan girls are now inspired into the tech world.
With her “Mobile Cow App”, 21-year old Nancy Sibo, an app developer, was crowned the first ever Miss Geek.
Now 200 farmers use Sibo’s app to monitor their cows’ gestation period and milk productivity.
According to Umutoni, Sibo’s application emerged the best because of its voice based format that made it easier to access by the rural farmers it is meant to assist.
Following Sibo, the second runner up was Christine Bayizere, a student in Electronics and Electricity Engineering. Her project is a Wireless Black Box that to monitor vehicles and send alerts in case of an accident.
Josephine Tujyimbere was third with the Class Attendance Management System which uses fingerprint recognition to monitor students’ progress.
Chantal Mukundwa, a Computer Engineering & Information Technology student explained her proposed software, called the Nearby Item Locator System, which is both a web and a mobile application that allows users to search for items they wish to buy.
This year, girls will present affordable social learning platforms to bridge the education gap in Rwanda by transferring knowledge, both online and offline.
For months girls in ICT have visited different high schools and universities, to present the problem and guidelines towards coming up with the best solutions.
While 2014 Miss Geek competition targeted University students, this time high schools are the major target because at this stage, girls are faced with the challenge of choosing career studies to take on at higher institutions of learning.
Miss Geek contestants in a group photo with event organisers.
So far, 70 applications have been tendered in, only 5 solutions will be chosen and posted on internet for people to vote for the best.
Interested people open up a link, provided on the Miss Geek 2015 facebook page, where they are directed to the Miss Geek 2015 People’s choice award headline.
Under this, the five selected projects are listed with a small description of how they work. With just a click, voting is finished.
The application with many votes takes the People’s choice award. While Miss Geek, the first and second runner up are chosen by girls in ICT, a group uniting over 30 Rwandan women working in the ICT sector.
The winner will receive Rwf2 million ($2800), a trip to an international tech conference, a tablet surface, a laptop and internship.
An event that started on a small note, with no sponsorship, is now supported by Rwanda’s First Lady, Jeannette Kagame under her charity, Imbuto Foundation, the UNDP Women, among others.
Unlike the Miss Rwanda contest earlier this year that was characterised angelic-looking girls, with many failing in critical thinking, the Miss Geek contest is anticipated to unlocked Rwanda’s hidden tech-buties.
Miss Geek, Nancy Sibo in red T-shirt. The competition targets University and high school students.
Source: KT Press