Huawei Apps UP 2021: Three women trailblazing regional app development

A Huawei logo is displayed at a retail store in Beijing on May 23, 2019. (AFP)
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From e-commerce to healthcare and social impact, women leaders play a unique role and make key contributions, transforming industries by pursuing bold ideas that solve day-to-day problems. Huawei aims to encourage and support women as they create innovative technological applications and tools that enable social impact.
Huawei HMS App Innovation Contest (Apps UP) features eight categories, including the Tech Women’s Award, created to showcase the impactful work done by female app developers. Sept. 5 is the last date for entries to Apps UP 2021.
In the MENA region, a growing number of women are leading the creation of apps for the Huawei ecosystem, such as Amal Al-Saadi, a mobile architect consultant with OrangeJo and the co-founder and chief technology officer of VineTech — a mobile apps development house. Al-Saadi is also closely involved in the development of Aman, the community-built and privacy-oriented COVID-19 contact-tracing app used in Jordan.
Al-Saadi said that the regional app development industry is mostly populated by males, but believes that the tide is turning. “I believe that in time, we will see many more focused and passionate ladies emerging in the industry,” she said.
Huawei has supported the Aman app with considerable development assistance and a prominent listing in Huawei AppGallery, the default app marketplace on Huawei smart devices.

Huawei’s support has given us the opportunity to turn our app into a business.

Jacqueline Rogers, Founder of the My Pregnancy Journey app

Another regional female developer making waves on the Huawei platform is Nour Shammout, development team lead at Baaz, a new social platform based in Jordan. Shammout believes that gender diversity is essential for the software development industry in MENA to develop.
Jacqueline Rogers is the founder of the My Pregnancy Journey app. The app was one of three winners in the Social Impact category of the Apps UP 2020 competition and was developed by African women for African women. It aims to help address the lack of locally relevantcontent and assistance for expecting mothers during a very special time of their lives.
“Huawei’s support has given us the opportunity to turn our app into a business,” said Rogers. “I would definitely urge all aspiring tech entrepreneurs, especially women, to enter this competition for the wealth of direct and indirect rewards on offer. Winning the competition has jumpstarted the growth of our app!”