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Tigo Ghana in partnership with Reach for Change, a non-profit organisation today announced the launch of its Digital Changemakers competition, a social entrepreneurship programme aimed at identifying and empowering young Ghanaians with innovative digital solutions to improve the lives of children and society.

Tigo’s Digital Changemakers programme targets social entrepreneurs with the passion and the drive to create positive change by using digital tools and technology to scale up and grow the impact of their initiative. In 2014, two innovative ideas were selected; an application for autism and a digitized training programme for teachers in basic schools.

“Starting from today, 6th October to 6th November 2015, we are encouraging all social entrepreneurs to apply with their pioneering digital technology ideas that can impact the lives of children. The best ideas will get the chance to win a seed capital of GHS 70,000 in addition to expert support and advice from Tigo and Reach for Change for one year,” said the Head of Corporate Communication and CSR for Tigo Ghana, Gifty Bingley.

“We are looking for the best innovative digital ideas that can provide genuine solutions to problems facing children and society, while at the same time promoting connectivity and access to communications, particularly in deprived communities,” she explained.

The Country Manager for Reach for Change Ghana, Madonna Kendona-Sowah, emphasised that “Ideas presented to the competition must demonstrate the potential in utilizing mobile broadband, digital and/or information technology to improve the quality of the proposed project”.

Interested participants can apply online through www.tigo.com.gh/digitalchangemakers.

To date, Tigo Ghana in partnership with Reach for Change has selected 15 dynamic and system changing social entrepreneurs.

Regina Agyare, one of the programme’s previous winners, helps children to innovate and create technology by teaching them web designing, coding, basic ICT skills and programming. Hayford Siaw, the founder of Street Library Ghana, gives children the chance to experience the joy of reading via a digital mobile library which moves from one rural community to the other. Similarly, IT4Teens is a social enterprise that provides software, hardware and basic ICT skills training children in the Western Region.

As the Ghana Telecom CSR Company of the Year, Tigo has embarked on numerous social investments such as improving educational infrastructure for teaching and learning in rural Ghana - as Shelter 4 Education; Digital inclusion for children in rural schools – A Digital Mobile Library; the provision of portable water to various communities; improving on health infrastructure among several others.

Tigo remains committed to bridging the developmental gap by impacting and improving the lives of the communities within which it operates.