...Developing mobile app to help fight crime
ODAINE WILLIAMS continues the story about three rural youngsters climb into tech’s big league
“In 2016, we entered the 4-H Competition, this time with Larceny Tech — an anti-praedial larceny app that would go on to win the first-place prize and sparked the interest of the minister of agriculture, but because of bureaucratic hurdles again, that project is still on hold. Our spirit was never deterred; we copped the top prize for the annual Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show app competition two consecutive years— 2015 and 2016. “It is important to state here that, we were able to strike a balance between extra-curricular activities and academics, as we graduated with passes in all our subjects. “I can vividly remember Ricardo’s statement when we met Marvin on campus, who had matriculated to university a year earlier than us. He said: “Odaine, this is the place to shine.” We laughed but knowing our resilient attitude, we knew great things were in store for us.
“Marvin and I, with the help of Andrea Maxwell, and our mentor entered the UWI Mona Vincent Hosang Business Competition, where we managed to capture the best elevator pitch prize (the shorter version of the overview of their idea), which earned us our subsequent invitation to the National Business Model Competition.
“Although we did not win, to represent Jamaica in Silicon Valley in the United States, we are currently working on our mobile application that we hope to help alleviate crime not only in Jamaica, but in other developing nations, and ultimately, the world.”