Kenyans among participants in America-based Citi mobile challenge

Kenyan developers will be the only ones to participate in American Bank Citi Bank’s Citi Mobile Challenge for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; a digital acceleration program that will have developers build solutions on the bank’s digital platform.

At stake is the opportunity to take their technologies into production with Citi’s support, plus a share of $100,000 in cash awards and a suite of services from Citi Mobile Challenge sponsors.

While giving her address at the IBM InterConnect event in Las Vegas, Nevada, Heather Cox, Chief Client Experience, Digital and Marketing Officer for Global Consumer Banking at Citi said that new entrants into payment and banking space as well as client expectations are now the factors fueling their decision making and hence they have to keep looking for ideas.

“It is simply no longer sufficient to look internally when we want to develop. We are not replacing but adding to what we have,“ said Cox.

The virtual competition seeking to foster innovation within the banking industry invites developers from around the world to build innovative solutions based on Citi’s digital platform and since the bank boasts a global network, developers will get the chance to scale their ideas on a global stage.

There will be a variety of APIs to help developers create real-world innovations that could function with existing Citi technology.

Registration for the Challenge starts on  Feb. 23, and participants in Nairobi will get a chance on April 22^th, Jerusalem on April 26, Warsaw on April 28, and London on April 30.

A panel of industry experts and financial technology leaders will evaluate the solutions at each event.

Citi Mobile Challenge in EMEA follows highly successful programs in Latin America and the U.S. in 2014. In Latin America, Citi received 150 submissions and hosted 50 finalists at events in Buenos Aires and Bogotá. Citi Mobile Challenge U.S. received 744 submissions from 62 countries and hosted 60 finalists at events in Silicon Valley, New York and Miami. Citi is currently evaluating several pilots from the top innovations presented at previous Challenges.

For more information about Citi Mobile Challenge, visit www.citimobilechallenge.com