Refugee wins $1m after coming first in Arab Coders awards

A Syrian refugee has won a global initiative to encourage more Arabs to train as professional computer coders.

Mahmoud Shahoud, 32, received the $1 million prize after undergoing training and developing the One Million Arab Coders competition’s winning project.

In 2013, the software engineer fled war in his home country for Turkey. He took advantage of the offer of free training in coding after seeing the competition advertised on Facebook in 2018.

Six software projects developed by young Arabs from around the world competed for the grand prize.

Mr Shahoud learnt skills that helped him to develop the Habit360 smartphone app, which enables people to create better habits in their lives and track their accomplishments and feelings. He told The National that he planned to use half of his winnings to help children orphaned by the civil war.

“With the rest, I have decided to establish my tech-focused start-up in Dubai,” said Mr Shahoud, who lives in Istanbul and plans to move to the Emirates soon.

He said “God helped me to win” the prize.

“It was a great moment when they said my name. This initiative has helped lots of people around the world,” he said. The app is available on Google Play and he is working on the iOS version.

He told his brother of his victory and said it was a moment of celebration for his family.

“He was super happy. All my family members are in Syria, apart from my wife and 7-year-old son who are in Turkey,” he said.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, congratulated Mr Shahoud and the other award winners at a ceremony held at the Museum of the Future yesterday.

“Coding is the quickest way for Arab youth to achieve their dreams,” Sheikh Hamdan said on Twitter. “Coding creates the future.”

Led by Dubai Future Foundation, One Million Arab Coders was launched in 2017 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to equip a million young people with the skills to succeed in the 21st century.