Recently updated on March 27th, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Footwear Academy, a footwear training firm has won the maiden edition of the Proudly Made in Aba Hackathon Challenge, designed to proffer solutions to challenges currently faced by Aba entrepreneurs, especially in the finished leather, garment and steel fabricating clusters.
Using modern equipment and technology, Footwear Academy won the challenge by providing a solution to upgrading the skills of Aba shoemakers, to enable them to improve the quality of their products.
The Co-founder, Footwear Academy, Bentley Chukwuemeka, stated that their plan was to introduce Aba shoemakers to modern technology, to enable them to speed up production.
Bentley Chukwuemeka said Footwear Academy also intended to reduce its period of apprenticeship from five years to six months.
The hackathon challenge had the Footwear Academy coming first position with $50,000; Clintonel Technology, which came second, received a cash prize of $30,000; and Ogwugo Technologies, coming third, got $20,000.
Clintonel Technology introduced a solution to digitalise and automate the metal fabrication process in Aba, through Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing, while Ogwugo technologies introduced an online marketing platform, designed to handle trade activities between buyers and sellers in broad categories.
The technology, according to the Co-Founder, Clintonel Technology, Tochukwu Chukwueke, will help shoe manufacturers and metal fabricators in Aba reduce production cost, increase production speed, multiply production volume, improve finishing and generate more revenue.
The Co-founder, Ogwogo.com, Chima Abafor, explained that the firm was offering a dynamic platform built from scratch to adapt to modern e-commerce technology, as well as e-commerce problems.
According to the Programme Manager, West African Office, Ford Foundation, Professor Paul Nwulu, the Proudly Made in Aba Hackathon Challenge was organised to find ways of using technology and innovative ideas to help influence the lives of shoemakers, fabricators and garment makers in Aba.
