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Dubai: Teenage boys win ‘App Olympics’ for platform that makes education affordable

Other winners include apps that connects students with internships, helps customers find home businesses, and more

For Mohamed Hamad, Ryan and Mohammed Rashid, the idea for creating their app Emudy came from their own pain points while preparing for the UAE’s standardised test Emsat. Their aim was clear - make life easy for other students.

Complete with bite-sized instructional videos and practice exams, the app made preparing for the challenging EmSAT easy and affordable for an estimated 110,000 students every year. With their ingenious idea, they not only scooped up the best app in the Youth category but were also voted Dubai’s app of the year at the first ever App Olympics.

At the event held on Thursday at the Museum of the Future, the 18-year-olds collected their trophy from Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “He told us that we can start in Dubai and then expand to around the world,” said Mohamed Hamad Obeid Al Mansoori, speaking to Khaleej Times. “So he has given us a goal to work towards.”

The App Olympics saw over 1100 entries from around the world. The applications were whittled down to 247 quarter-finalists from which 12 finalists were shortlisted in four categories. The apps were divided into Social Impact, Most Innovative, Best Youth and Best Advanced categories. Winners in each section were awarded Dh500,000 to further develop their ideas. All four winners were given 90 seconds to pitch their ideas to the audience to win the coveted Dubai’s app of the year recognition. The audience voted for Emudy.

“It is a great platform for innovators,” said Saeed Al Gergawi, Vice President of Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. “We had a range of entries from a 14-year-old to serial entrepreneurs in the competition. So it is a great platform that gives people the opportunity to use Dubai as their launchpad.”

Last minute plan

When the competition was announced, the boys decided to register for it. “We had already developed Emudy but we didn’t feel it was good enough for the competition,” said Ryan Telles. “So the plan was to develop another app. However, we didn’t have the time to build a new one from scratch. So as the deadline drew nearer, we decided to enter Emudy. We are so happy that we won with this project. It is extremely close to our heart and will help so many students like us.”

The boys, who came up with the idea in 2022, spent months doing their research and compiled all the information they had in one place. Now, they want to spend their grant to fine-tune the app. “We have a detailed plan on how we will progress with the app in the coming month with the money we have won,” said Mohammed Rashed Hamdan Al Khemeiri. “It will take a while because of the integration AI but hopefully we want to get the app to people before the end of this year.”

The Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy announced the App Olympics in October last year, in a bid to accelerate Dubai’s journey to become the mobile app development capital of the world. It is part of the ‘Create Apps in Dubai’ initiative announced by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed to strengthening the emirate’s position as a global leader in the digital domain.

Other winners

In the social impact category, The Intern, which connects college students with internship opportunities, emerged the winner. Targeting the 3 million college students in the GCC, the app aims to transform the internship landscape in the region.

The app Bareeq - which means bright - won in the most innovative category. Established by Fatima Alshaali, the app aims to bring together home businesses in one platform so that it becomes easier for UAE residents to support local businesses without having to hunt for them on social media. Coming up with the idea in 2017, Fatima did not have the technical capabilities to bring her app to life at the time. “I am a game developer and I spent years honing my skills so that I could start Bareeq,” she said. “Now, I am excited to take my journey forward.”

In the Best Advanced category, the app Takeem - which wants to digitise the entire rental journey - won. “The main trend we have seen is that the winners have all solved very real problems,” said Sachin Dev Duggal, Founder and Chief Wizard at Builder.ai that guided the competitors through the app development process. “They showed unique insight into how to solve these problems. We can see a creative fire and energy in all these budding app developers.”

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