The winners of the Facebook First Bots for Messenger Developer Challenge were announced this week, with submissions from Egypt doing very well.
Egyptians featured prominently among the winners and runners-up of the three categories, as did Morocco.
A total of 60 finalists from 64 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region were considered for the eventual winner’s prize, which included $20,000 in addition to three months of Facebook mentorship, according to ITNewsAfrica.
Winning teams were not the only developers recognized for their efforts with prize money and valuable mentorship from one of the world’s foremost tech companies, as the runner-up teams also received $10,000 and three months of Facebook mentorship.
The Bots for Messenger Developer Challenge was launched on February 15 with the aim of recognizing and rewarding developers from the region who were able to create the most innovative new bots on the Messenger mobile and desktop application, which allows users to communicate with other Facebook users via a messaging platform.
During the submission period, 34 bot parties were hosted by Facebook across the Middle East and Africa to help teach those interested how to build bots for the Messenger platform, and over 1000 submissions were eventually received, according to Facebook.
The three categories for which winners were chosen included gaming and entertainment, productivity and utility, and social good. Two of the three winners were from Egypt, while two of the runners-up also came from the country.
Emeka Afigbo, Facebook’s head of platform partnerships for the Middle East and Africa commented on the challenge and congratulated the winners.
“It’s been nearly five months since we first invited submissions for the 2017 Bots for Messenger Challenge and we’re excited to share the winners. We were incredibly impressed with the bot submissions we received and the commitment to excellence that all the contestants have demonstrated, since the launch of the contest,” Afigbo said, according to HTXT.
“We congratulate all the winners, wish them luck and thank all of the participants for making the Bots for Messenger Challenge a success! We look forward to seeing these bots continue to evolve into strong services for their communities,” he added.
Gaming and Entertainment
Winner: Trivoxx from Morocco bot that allows one’s or a group of friends test their trivia on sports, science, and cities in three languages: Arabic, French, and English.
Concept: A bot that allows a group of friends to test their trivia on sports, science, and cities in Arabic, French, and English.
Runner-up: Mastermind Games Bot
Concept: This bot is a collection of five interactive games that are played to solve codes based on various combinations of logic and memory.
Productivity and Utility
Winner: Mr. Ink from Egypt
Concept: Users can either type a book name, or snap a photo of the book cover, to obtain information about the book including its author, rating, and book description.
Runner-up: Evii from Jordan
Concept: This bot helps customers order and pick up food locally using end-to-end customers tools.
Social Good
Winner: MathHook from Egypt
Concept: This bot helps users to solve complex math problems and search for math courses on YouTube while connecting users with teachers or other students to solve math problems.
Runner-up: Adam (9 months) from Egypt
Concept: This bot is geared at creating a community for pregnant women via tools and content, while enabling safe communication channels with other pregnant women. Location services are used to search for nearby pregnancy care facilities via the bot.
