Chiniki Guard, a Nigerian Information Communication Technology (ICT) startup application, has won the best prize of $10,000 in the Artificial Intelligence category competition at the ongoing Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX).

GITEX is a global annual and biggest technology gathering in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia with the theme “Synergising the Mind and Technology Economy.”

Chiniki Guard is an Artificial Intelligence security solution for retail stores, supermarkets to monitor, detect and alert shop owners of shoplifting as well as suspicious behaviour in real time.

Chiniki Guard is among the 34 startups in the category of the Supanova finalists at the GITEX Future stars competition.

Speaking with to newsmen, Mr Abdulhakim Bashir, the Founder of Chiniki Guard, said the opportunities at GITEX had accorded him the win and would enable him to widen the scope of his business.

Bashir said he would launch the application after GITEX and move to the cloud for storing data to accommodate the number of requests from shop owners.

According to him, Nigerians have potential that can transform the economy but the private sector needs to be involved.

247Medic, a health ICT application that connects doctors with patients across Nigeria within a maximum waiting time of 10 minutes and provides auxiliary services, including lab testing, doorstep delivery of drugs, also made it to the finals.

Other Nigerian start-ups at the exhibition include Blue Circle of Notitia, a health application that digitises patients’ medical history, Zowasel, an agritech application to improve the value chain.

Naira Packet also among the startups is a solution mechanism that reduces the cost of microtransactions and Sublime Square, an online platform, designed to ensure efficiency in waste evacuation and management.

Nigeria’s participation at GITEX is spearheaded by NITDA.

Nigeria Postal Service, Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited, Nigeria Petroleum Exchange Commission, Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board are some agencies representing the country at GITEX.

The start-ups were mentored and supervised by the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), a subsidiary of NITDA. (NAN)