Students win $298,000 scholarships for artisan-customer app

Three students of Greenspring School have won $298,000 worth of scholarships after emerging overall best in the Nigeria 2023 Conrad Challenge.

The three students, Segun Balogun, Adewale Saliu, and David Onukwugha,  won the competition for creating a smartphone application that connects craftsmen with people who need their services.

A statement by the school read, “At the competition, the students represented their school as Team S.A.D, an acronym they formed using the first letter of their first names and emerged as the overall best in Nigeria for creating a smartphone application that connects craftsmen with people who need their services. Their innovation won them $298,000 worth of scholarships for their college tuition, an exclusive invitation to represent Nigeria at the Global Conrad Summit in April at NASA’s Johnson / Kennedy Space Center, USA, and N1m cash prize.”

Speaking on Greensprings School’s participation in the challenge, acting Deputy Director of Education, Mrs Feyisara Ojugo, said the school presented five teams out of the 230 teams from several schools that participated in the competition.

“Four of the five teams made it to the finals, with Team S.A.D emerging as the best in the cyber-technology and security category, and the best in Nigeria thus claiming the grand prize after weeks of rigorous efforts.

“Apart from the awards given to the winning team, each of the 15 students that made up the four finalist teams received $60,000 worth of scholarships from Clarkson University and awards of excellence.”

Ojugo said she was pleased that the students were able to develop an app that would help to solve a specific challenge in the country by connecting craftsmen with people who needed them, thereby giving access to a larger market without the limitations of geographic location.