Top Teams in Jamaica’s Hacking Generation Y

The Winning Team: Shumba Brown, Gavin Smith, Howard Johnson and Dane Edwards

TECH NEWS – Four students from the Jamaica College (JC) emerged winners of the first Hacking Generation Y hackathon held in Jamaica, with their creation of an app, which aims to simplify the career selection process for students.

The students: Shumba Brown, Gavin Smith, Howard Johnson and Dane Edwards of the team, Code Veterans, were the leaders in the 30-hour hackathon organised by Jadan Johnson, CEO of the Vybz Media Group, which took place at Start-Up Jamaica, located in the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) offices in downtown Kingston, between April 11 and 12.

Team member, Shumba Brown, said the inspiration for the app came from the fact that many teens had difficulty deciding on an area of focus for their professional life.

“Our app gives students an opportunity to seek internships in businesses, to receive first-hand experiences in the career that they wish to explore,” he explained.

Following the design of their app, on Sunday, April 12, the team along with nine others, pitched their ideas to a panel of judges, which included: the Hon. Julian Robinson, Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining; and Dwayne Samuels, developer of the Grikly app.

Second Prize Winners

Team Hashtag Cinge, comprising: Chanderpaul Sutton, Inzinga McCarthy, Niko Lloyd Campbell, and Grace-Ann Brown, received the second place award with their Blind Sight App, which uses the GPS and vibration features of the pebble smart watch to help to guide blind persons.

The hackathon was co-sponsored by several entities including: Jamaica National Building Society, Google, and Digicel Jamaica. In addition, Start-Up Jamaica provided mentorship support to the participants.

“I am looking forward to more local hackathon events being held, to encourage young developers who have good ideas,” Minister Robinson said.

He further acknowledged that like Start-Up Jamaica, “the hackathon provides the platform to move ideas from simply being ideas to become business concepts that are consistent with what we are doing at Start-Up Jamaica. And that is to, provide the mentorship and support for young entrepreneurs.”

Jadan Johnson, head of Hacker Experience and organiser of the event, said the turnout was more than expected, with more than 52 participants, ranging from 13 to 23 years-old, taking part in the Hackathon.

Third Prize Winners

“I never knew that the day would come when I’d see teenagers working so hard to make a pitch. I am really excited to see what happens. And, I hope that some of our participants will delve in to teach entrepreneurship,” he stated.

Troy Bygrave, business relationship and sales manager, at JNBS, emphasised that Jamaica National, which supported the event by providing two floors of its Duke Street office in Kingston, saw the hackathon as “a natural extension of our support of activities that empower our young people through innovation in technology.”

“Hack Gen-Y also falls naturally within our own mandate to expand the emphasis on technology to improve our customer experience and services to members,” he stated.

The Hacking Generation Y series is an international movement, which targets high schools students globally; and, began in Silicon Valley, California in January of this year.

Mr Johnson said plans are now underway to organise another local event soon, while preparing the winning team for possible entry into a Hacking Generation Y event to be held in Israel in June.

“Hacking Generation Y is now a global brand; and, several international events will be held around the globe throughout this year,” he advised.