Ncell app camp 2014: Mobile application in agriculture, education and tourism

Among the four sectors included in the Ncell app camp 2014, experts discussed the potentials of mobile application in agriculture, education and tourism. Addressing to the participants of the camp in a seminar on Friday, speakers highlighted the need for developing apps that focus on specific business areas in Nepal.

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Providing a glimpse of current status of agriculture sector of Nepal, Dinesh Gautam, manager at Pro-biotech Industries Pvt. Ltd., said that mobile applications should be knowledge sharing platform for farmers but their ultimate target should be the overall development of the sector. “Mobile platform is the quickest means of exchanging our ideas, which the farmers can use in communicating information on pesticides, fertilizers and the supply and demand status of the market,” added Gautam.

Referring to recent trend of young generation involving in agriculture business, Yogendra Kumar Karki, project director at PACT, said that applications based on information sharing is the need of time. “Such applications should focus on information based on price, availability and quality of the agro-products”, said Karki.

Similarly, Mona Sharma, manager of Public Private Partnership, emphasized that mobile applications should replace the trend of intermediaries’ role in disseminating information. “However, you should know whom you are targeting while deciding whether to include SMS, text or voice so that the message is understood well by the receiver,” said Sharma.

Managing Director of Fleur Himalayan Pvt. Ltd., Ajay B Pradhananga emphasized that mobile apps can help increase transparency in the agri-business. “Mobile apps can include inputs which can inform supplier about the market needs and pricing of their products,” Pradhananga added.

Likewise, Dr. Sameer Dixit, director of research at Centre for Molecular Dynamics Nepal, said mobile applications should provide information to the local farmers and stakeholders by fetching such information from the national and global sources to the local so that they can have basic know how about their problems or need.

Addressing separate seminar on tourism category of the camp, Bibhusan Bista, CEO of Young Innovations, advised the participants to identify their playfield better before creating an app. “A simple app can solve greater problems if you rely on data and think of market segmentation.” He urged the developers to think of how global ideas can be implemented in Nepalese context.

Yogendra Shakya, former president of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) and Bhola Thapa, president of President Travels and Tours emphasized that app developers should consider focusing on Asian countries mainly China and India where most tourists visiting Nepal come from. “We would like to invest in any apps that could add convenience in travel activities for our visitors,” added Shakya.

Pradeep Raj Pandey, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board, emphasized that the new apps should focus on an specific sector. “Do not go for creating everything for everyone,” said Pandey. Similarly, Sukendra Gurubacharya, managing director of Nepal and Beyond Travels and Tours, stressed the need to create a comprehensive app for Nepal in which the operators can also include the cost in our package. Clients can download and install your app and have accurate information.

Raj Gyawali, founder director of Social Tours, said that the travel based apps can include information about culture, flora and fauna of a specific location. “Also, tourism industries require rescue and safety mechanism which the mobile apps can help.”

Participants competing on the tourism category of the app camp lamented that they are facing difficulties in fetching information from reliable sources.

Similarly, in a separate seminar organized to discuss use and prospects of mobile application in education, the speakers called upon developers to create apps that could facilitate access to quality learning materials and improve learning approaches to the remote locations of Nepal.

“The reason why apps are being popular in the world is because it addresses individual needs,” said Anil Chitrakar, chairman of Himalayan Climate Initiative, who urged the young app developers to use their imagination while creating apps on education. Chitrakar pointed out that Nepal’s education system is still backward because it lacks the fun part of learning.

Sanju Koirala, director of corporate communications at Ncell said that education and technology together can only help Nepal step forward in the sector. “So, Ncell is trying to help facilitate the education system through new innovations,” said Koirala. “If we make applications on our own, we can change the learning behavior.”

Shanta Dixit, founder and director of Rato Bangala School said that children doing well in smaller grades have higher possibilities of doing well in higher education. “So, the app developers have to think what kind of apps could motivated children in their studies during their early schools.”

Seminar on corporate business will be held on November 12 followed by intensive training sessions on the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI), business development, idea pitching and presentation on November 18 and 21 respectively. Designers from each team attending the training sessions will enhance their capacity on mobile designing and app development on different platforms such as IOS, Android and Windows. Teams seeking business opportunities can get adequate knowledge on making business proposals, planning and management, idea pitching and presentation skills from Sohan Babu Khatri, CEO of Three H Management Pvt. Ltd and a prominent speaker with empowering knowledge on business development.

Once the teams submit their refined ideas, 6 best ideas from each category – that is 24 teams in total – will be selected for the final competition, which will be held through December 9-11, 2014. The thematic winners would win cash prize of Rs. 250,000 each and the overall winner will bag additional Rs. 500,000 in cash along with Ncell sponsorship to participate in a similar overseas app camp.

Learn more about Ncell app camp 2014 at it’s official website http://ncellappcamp.com