Ukraine kicks off the third Teсhnovation Challenge 2019 – IT-entrepreneurship contest for schoolgirls

– A presentation of the third IT-entrepreneurship contest for schoolgirls Teсhnovation Challenge 2019 along with the discussion of IT-opportunities was held at the Grammarly office in Kyiv. Since Ukraine has introduced the program back in 2017, it yielded 45 girl teams developing mobile apps with significant social impact.

“I am firmly convinced that Ukrainian girls can significantly contribute to the growth of our country. Western NIS Enterprise Fund is proud to support such a crucial initiative as the Techovation Challenge. Communicating with innovative and progressive individuals girls will get inspired by changes, discover new opportunities for themselves and clearly see that nothing is impossible,” commented Jaroslawa Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund.

Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Oleksandr Yarema, accompanied by the heads of leading organizations and IT companies in Ukraine such as UNICEF, UN Women, Microsoft, Horizon Capital, Lviv City Council, and girls-inventors and mobile apps developers joined the presentation of the new projects’ season, sharing the success stories that inspired girls not to be afraid of change, believe in themselves, and unlock new perspectives for themselves and the cities they live in. As part of the event a discussion “He for She” was held, where men told about well-known women-founders of startups.

“The program aims not to teach girls to work only with girls, but rather to help them believe in themselves, to understand that IT is not centered on technical work only, but may appear as a means of useful changes in any field, and to encourage the teams that can gradually grow into successful startups. Technology is based on values, as schoolgirls are developing community-focused solutions. They are future leaders and agents of change,” said Iryna Ozymok, Local Economic Development Program Manager at the Western NIS Enterprise Fund.

Participation in the contest is free of charge. Submit your application till March 20, 2019 at https://technovationchallenge.org/. In Ukraine, the project is implemented by the Western NIS Enterprise Fund and Peace Corps.

Such organizations as UN Women, Unicef, Microsoft, Grammarly supported Technovation Challenge 2019 launch.