For more photos click right here
Rwanda Coding Academy has once again proven that Rwandan talent belongs on the world stage, as students Bruce Nibeza M. and Chaste Ganza M. claimed third place at the 16th e-ICON World Contest, one of South Korea's most prestigious international technology competitions. The achievement is the latest in a growing string of successes that continue to place RCA, and Rwanda, firmly on the global tech map. Representing their country, Bruce and Chaste teamed up with Kim S. and Song R. of South Korea's Daejeon Daeshin High School to form a joint global team. Together, the four students designed and built ReNew, a digital solution created to address pressing educational challenges in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The e-ICON World Contest, short for the e-Learning International Contest of Outstanding New Tech, is organized by Korea's Ministry of Education together with the Korea Digital Education Association (KEFA) as part of the country's Official Development Assistance program. Since its founding in 2011, the contest has brought together students and teachers from more than 30 countries to co-develop learning applications, producing well over 180 projects in its first decade alone. Each year, the competition pairs Korean high school students with talented peers from partner countries around the world, challenging them to design mobile and web-based applications that tackle real issues such as education, climate change, health, and inequality. It is as much a celebration of cross-cultural friendship as it is a test of technical skill, and this year, Rwanda's own students rose to the occasion.
Working under the project title ReNew, the Rwandan-Korean team pooled their strengths across software engineering, user-centered design, and front-end development. Over an intensive development cycle, the four young innovators built a robust mobile application intended to renew and expand access to quality educational tools for learners who need them most. Bringing together two very different educational systems and cultures, the team had to communicate across distance, align on a shared vision, and translate that vision into working code, all under the pressure of competition deadlines. That the team's hard work and collaboration ultimately earned them third place out of dozens of competing teams from around the world is a testament to both their technical ability and their teamwork.
Reflecting on the experience, Bruce and Chaste noted that working alongside their partners from Daejeon Daeshin High School was a powerful reminder that technology has no borders, and that the rigorous engineering foundation they built at RCA gave them the depth and problem-solving mindset needed to compete at such a high level. Their success builds on RCA's growing partnership with South Korea, following the academy's historic memorandum of understanding with Daedeok Software Meister High School and its finalist finish at the 15th edition of the very same e-ICON contest the year before.
