Brain Squad app developed by kids wins world technovation challenge

Brain Squad, a group of five Nigerian girls, has invented an app that helps less privileged children go to school.

The app, Handsout, won the People’s Choice award at this year’s global Technovation competition in Silicon Valley, California. More than 19,000 teenage girls were featured in the competition

They were the only African side in Technovation Challenge finals. Team Brain Squad comprising Ariyo Ayomikun, Ivana Mordi, Jadesola Kassim, Munachiso Chigbo and Pandora Onyedire — all Grade Six students of Standard Bearers School Lagos — had cruised their way to the finals after coming tops at the State, Regional, and National levels of the competition.

Team Brain Squad, as they call themselves, were looking to follow in the footsteps of last year’s surprise winners, Team Save-a-Soul; another Nigerian side that saw off competition from teams from around the world on their way to claiming the gold in the global competition for young girls.

Handsout allows people all over the world to easily donate to Nigerian children and their families to help them pay for school fees, stationaries, and medication.

It was inspired by a tragic incident that occurred in Lagos early this year where many children lost their lives after a school building collapsed in Itafaji, Lagos Island. The girls developed the fundraising app to make it easy for people to make donations to help the needy pay for school fees, food, shoes, books, stationery, and medication and more. And their innovation had earned them a place in the finals of this year’s Technovation Challenge.

Many had tipped them to pull off a Team Save-a-Soul by going all the way and the girls had every right to dream. But in the end, they could only manage to come away with the People’s Choice Award, having lost out to teams from India and Cambodia in the junior division.