CREATOR OF FINGERSPELLING WINS 1M

CREATOR OF FINGERSPELLING WINS 1M

By Ednah Kiarie

InABLE Awards Kshs 1 Million prize money at

the inaugural Digital Accessibility Innovations

Award.

Hudson Asiema from Kenya developed the

Fingerspelling Pro for Kids mobile application,

an alphabet game in sign language for hearing

impaired, deaf children and their families to

learn, play and practice handshapes of letters

won a cool one million Kenya shillings.

This innovation made him the first-ever winner

of the Inclusive Africa Conference Digital

Accessibility Innovations Award. Asiema won

the Kshs 1 million prize contributed by

inABLE.org.

The award was announced during the closing

ceremony of the virtual Inclusive Africa

Conference 2020 organized by inABLE to

promote digital accessibility in Africa.

While announcing the winner, the Founder and

Executive Director of inABLE, Irene Mbari-Kirika

said, “The launch of the Digital Accessibility

Innovations Award is meant to encourage more

African software developers and technology

experts to create more accessible solutions

that have persons with disability at the center

of design.

Irene also added that, “I am excited about the

future of this innovations award and the

potential of African developers, like Hudson

Asiema and Oluwatomisin Kolawole, who are

leading the way for more accessible solutions

for people with disabilities, who need it the

most”.

Asiema is a self-taught developer and the co-

founder/CEO of Deaf eLimu Plus Limited, a

Kenyan startup company that provides

innovative educational products and tutorial

services in sign language. He has created web

apps, mobile apps and bots using Facebook

Messenger and he also has a vast experience in

Google App Engine. Asiema is also a graduate

from the California State University, Northridge,

California USA, where he earned his Bachelor of

Science in Computer Science degree.

The Fingerspelling Pro games include: Learn,

Quiz, Handshape Sorting and Puzzles.

In the long run, this app not only helps the

hearing impaired and deaf kids to learn and

play games at home with minimal disruptions.

It also enables these kids to communicate with

other deaf and hearing-impaired people, as well

as communicate with their parents or siblings.

This digital accessibility innovations award is

meant to celebrate and recognize the best

inclusive African innovations. Out of the 20

submissions received from across Africa, the

judges recognized the top two finalists.

The first Runner up was Mr. Oluwatomisin

Kolawole from Nigeria, who created the Visis by

Vinsighte mobile application that uses Visis

Artificial Intelligence to aid the visually

impaired.

The Visis project involves the use of Visis

artificial intelligence mobile application and

other assistive technology device to aid the

visually impaired to read printed books and

educational materials, thereby giving them

access to convenient, inclusive and sound

education like their sighted peers.

Approximately 2,000 delegates, from 43

countries in Africa and globally, registered to

attend the two-day inaugural online Inclusive

Africa Conference. The purpose of the event

was to increase awareness of the needs and

rights of people with disabilities to access

digital information.

This virtual event was sponsored by

MasterCard Foundation, Safaricom PLC,

Facebook, Ford Foundation, Uber, Google, FSD

Kenya, and Eclectics International.