The age-old sage that necessity is the mother of invention played out positively for a group of Nigerian app developers, Team SOP, who out of the poor electricity situation in the country, developed an app that competed and won in Ericsson’s App awards competition.

The team   grabbed the first prize in Company category for its app that monitors electricity supply.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Team WorkMode also won first prize in Student category for its collaboration app that helps workers see the real-time work context and tasks of colleagues.

In a ceremony held at the Ericsson Studio in Kista, Sweden, Ericsson said the teams were selected in competition with 300 teams from more than 63 countries from all over the globe.

The semi-finalist apps were reviewed by a panel of global representatives and they decided on the two winning teams that would each receive €25,000 in prize money.

Outlining reasons for choosing SOP, the Judges said: “Team SOP  presented a strong case of using technology in a way that anyone could value and invest in.  They cleverly combined consumer, society and business benefits  around lifting transparency of power delivery in a well designed package.”

Also on the student category winners, the judges said:  “We felt that Team WorkMode showed strong business potential, and their focus on design and usability helped them when it came to innovation and addressing the theme of Apps for working life.”

Expressing his joy, Toks Ogun of Team SOP said that  “this award means we can continue to expand and develop our app, which monitors electricity supplies. We can see a market in parts of North America, in South America and in India and we will continue to develop our idea” he added.

Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Ericsson, Bina Chaurasia said: “We would like to offer our congratulations to both teams, who faced hard competition from all over the world. At Ericsson we often talk about the Networked Society and how mobile and digital technologies are increasingly expanding into more areas of society, business and our private lives. The winning apps strongly reflect this trend, as well as this year’s theme of ‘Apps for Working Life.’ We wish our winners every success in the future.”