First ever Hackathon organized by the Rotaract District 3220 happened on the 24^th of March 2018 at Dialog Axiata Auditorium, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Rotaract. This was hosted by the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Management and Finance and Rotaract Club of SLIIT.

All great innovations start with an idea! The Rotaract Idea Challenge is designed to promote information technology among youth and to recognize their talents as the next generation of professionals in the country.

Registrations for Rotaract Idea challenge started at 9.30 am. The judges for competition were Mr. Shafraz Raheem, the Senior Business Lead of Ideamart and District Rotaract Committee Chairperson Rtn. PHF Bobby Srinivas.

Next, the refreshments were served and it created a welcoming atmosphere, and gave participants a little bit of time to talk to each other before the competition. The gathering was then formally welcomed by the presidents of the host clubs. Then Mr. Shafraz Raheem addressed the gathering where he explained the importance of digitization and how it could help one in making their dreams of becoming an entrepreneur possible.

Then the presentations began. Teams had to come up with an innovative idea and to develop their own application to become a winner. Training session for the Hackathon was held on the 02^nd of February 2018, therefore teams had already worked on their ideas and developed their applications using Ideamart platform.

Ideamart is a platform presented by Dialog Axiata PLC to developers and content providers to use the Dialog network based features via shared APIs and monetize their efforts. The platform allows developers to use features based on Idea Pro, where the scripts to APIs are shared for them to create applications, whereas, Idea Apps comprise of pre-loaded applications for a content provider.

The judges mainly focused on the social impact of the applications. Ideas that have a positive impact on our communities and the world beyond. This could be an environmental, social or other non-profit idea that helps those who need it most.

After the presentation, the District Rotaract Representative PP. Rtr. Anuradha Senanayake addressed the gathering, where she expressed her pride in how the Rotaract Idea Challenge creates a platform for people to get involved in global issues, to collaborate in new ways, new innovations and how we’re creating the breakthroughs we need for a better, more sustainable world.

This was followed by the speech of the District Rotaract Committee Chairperson Rtn. PHF Bobby Srinivas. He emphasized the fact how important it is to develop your idea into a powerful business model and pitch it to the world.

Afterwards, the tokens of appreciations were handed over to the judges and Ideamart crew who supported us throughout the event. The certificates were handed out to all the participants. Then the winners were announced. The winners walked away with Rs.50000 in cash and other valuable prizes. The vote of thanks was delivered by Rtr. Hiranya Jayalath, which brought this event to the conclusion.

Rotaract Idea Challenge; Rotaract District 3220 Sri Lanka and Maldives initiative together with Ideamart was a huge success.

On behalf of the Rotaract club of SLIIT we would like to thank, Senior Business Lead Shafraz Raheem, the Ideamart crew, DRCC Rtn. Phf Bobby Srinivas, DRR PP. Rtr. Anuradha Senanayake, Joint Director- Professional Development Rtr. Kanishka Wijayasekara, and Special Projects Joint Directors Rtr. IPP. Annapoorna Jayasiri and Rtr. IPP. Sasmini Bandara and the District committee for all their support.

Written by-

Rtr. Dilini De Silva

Co-Editor 2017-18