Wanyama in Rio start-ups competition

 

While Kenyan runners will be hoping to wrap up the Olympic games in Rio successfully on Sunday, a local sports entrepreneur will also be in the Brazilian city hoping to bring glory to the country in a global competition.

William Wanyama will present the continent at the Global sports innovation for start-ups to be held in Rio next week. He won the African edition of the competition held in June at the Strathmore Business School.

Wanyama’s applications, known as the umpire ref, beat other participants from Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

The application helps match officials to have vital statistics like fouls, corners and cards issued to assist in managing decisions in future. The application can also be used to assist federations draw up their fixtures.

According to David Ogiga, the Managing Director of Sote ICT hub, who organised the local competition, the winner of the global award will walk away with Sh10million.

“We are glad that one of our own was able to win the African award and now he is in line to win the global award and a huge cash prize. While in Rio, he will compete against competitors from Brazil, United Kingdom, USA, Israel and Japan,” he revealed.

Former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Secretary Lodvick Aduda said: “We saw a lot of creative innovations and we hope that Wanyama will represent the country well at the global event. We need to encourage such competitions as they will help to digitise our sports.”