Huawei Mobile Services recently launched the Huawei Developer Programme, Shining-Star, in South Africa. This programme is part of a US$1-billion global investment that Huawei is committing to, in order to encourage global developer innovation and support.

In South Africa, the Shining-Star programme will focus on assisting local app developers in the following ways:

Talent development: Huawei Consumer Cloud Service division will provide formal training, online training, monthly and quarterly Huawei Mobile Services workshops, online DigiX Lab training, and DigiX Lab coaches.
Innovation support: Huawei DigiX Lab, which is an innovation hub, will give app developers access to senior developers as coaches, as well as hardware, software, testing and device support.
Marketing support: Huawei is also committing to assisting developers with marketing exposure through the Huawei AppGallery, Huawei Themes, push notifications, social mentions and events.
Developer community support: Huawei will provide various incentives and rewards, such as competitions and cloud storage support.

The first of such competitions that will be running in South Africa, to support local app developers, is the Huawei Developer Integration Challenge. From December 2019 to end-February 2020, independent and SMME app developers will have three opportunities to win cash; Huawei Mobile Services marketing and promotional resources (for Huawei AppGallery and Huawei Themes); and paid-for media resources (in the form of press coverage on external media platforms) to promote their winning apps.

All developers who have registered on the Huawei developer portal and have submitted and integrated their completed app into Huawei Mobile Services and published it on the Huawei AppGallery will stand a chance to win the prizes. The competition has three different phases:

Phase 1: Until 31 December 2019, one developer will win a total prize package valued at R300 000, which consists of R200 000 cash, R40 000 in marketing support and R60 000 in media resources.
Phase 2: From 1 to 31 January 2020, one developer will win a total prize package valued at R200 000, which consists of R150 000 cash, R20 000 in marketing support and R30 000 in media resources.
Phase 3: From 1 to 29 February 2020, one developer will win a total prize package valued at R150 000, which consists of R100 000 cash, R20 000 in marketing support and R30 000 in media resources.

Commenting on the Huawei Developer Integration Challenge, Likun Zhao, vice president of the Huawei Consumer Business Group Middle East & Africa, said: “We are hoping that this exciting competition will motivate South African app developers to integrate their apps onto Huawei Mobile Services so that we can further grow the Huawei AppGallery with local and relevant apps for our loyal users, while simultaneously empowering app developers.”

To enter the competition visit developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/, or contact the Huawei South Africa business development team on [email protected].