60 Finalists Emerge in Facebook Bots Challenge

May 18, 2017
60 Finalists Emerge in Facebook Bots Challenge

60 Finalists Emerge in Facebook Bots Challenge

By Dipo Olowookere

Facebook has selected 60 finalists from the hundreds of entries it received from across the Middle East and Africa for the Bots for Messenger Developer Challenge, a statement from the social media giant has revealed.

The Bots for Messenger Challenge is a contest to recognise and reward developers who create the most innovative new bots on Messenger.

Developers, in teams of up to three people, were invited to create bots in three categories: gaming and entertainment; productivity and utility; and social good.

The 60 finalist teams (10 per category in Middle East/North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa) each won a Gear VR and mobile phone, one hour of Facebook mentorship, and tools and services from FbStart, a Facebook program designed to help early stage mobile start-ups build and grow their bots. All student teams who made it to the finals won an additional $2,000.

Facebook says it will contact the finalists and connect them with a mentor.

However, they will need to resubmit their bots before midnight (GMT) on June 2 to qualify to win. For each region, three runner-up teams (one from each category) will win $10,000 and three months of Facebook mentorship. For each region, three winning teams (one from each category) will win $20,000 and three months of Facebook mentorship.

The 60 finalist teams and their bots can be viewed on https://MessengerChallenge.Splashthat.com.

Facebook’s Head of Platform Partnerships for the Middle East and Africa, Mr Emeka Afigbo, disclosed that, “Facebook grew out of a hacker culture and thrives by promoting innovation on new platforms. That’s why we launched the Bots for Messenger Challenge, with the aim of rewarding entrepreneurs and developers for harnessing the power of bots to create amazing new services and apps.

“We were overwhelmed to receive more than 1,000 entries over two and a half months for the Bots for Messenger Challenge from developers and entrepreneurs across the Middle East and Africa—each one of them solving a problem in an inventive way or enriching the lives of its target user.”

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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