Rachael Akano, Margaret Akano and Joy Njekwe have emerged champions of Technovation Girls 2020 for their “Memory Haven” application.
“Memory Haven”, application which help patients with dementia, emerged successful in the 12-week challenge, which beat out more than 1,500 submissions from 62 countries.
Technovation Girls is an international competition that challenges young women to develop an app that can solve a problem in their community. The annual competition is hosted by Technovation, a nonprofit organization that empowers girls to become leaders in tech.
Rachael Akano (16-year-old), Margaret Akano (17-year-old) and Joy Njekwe (17-year-old) were guided by project mentor Evelyn Nomayo, the founder of Phase Innovate, an organization that trains and mentors underrepresented minorities and women in tech. Evelyn Nomayo told them about her mother, who experienced dementia, and that inspired the teens, who live in Drogheda, Ireland, to create an app that could help with the disorder.
“Memory Haven” can be used by both patients and caregivers. Its six features target three problems faced by those with dementia: memory loss and difficulty with recognition and speech. A reminder feature, for example, alerts both the patient and caregiver that it’s time for medication, while photo albums allow users to flip through tagged photos identifying who is in the image.
On the team, Margaret Akano was the project manager, Rachael Akano was the financial manager, and Joy Njekwe was the sales manager.
“My mom started having dementia problems three to four years ago. The first time I realized something was wrong was when she started hallucinating. She lived in America, but she’d be imagining that she was in Nigeria. One time [when I was visiting her] I gave her something to sew, and I could see the pain in her eyes because she forgot how to. She used to be a seamstress, but she couldn’t do it anymore. So some of my experiences that I had with her, the team translated into technology to help others. She passed away earlier this year.
I’m currently doing a Ph.D. [in computer science and statistics]. During this process, I found that most of the time, I was either the only girl in class or the only black person or person of color. Whether I’m working or being educated, it’s so obvious that there’s a shortage of women in this space. So I just felt it: There was a need to bring more girls and people of color into that space.”
