APPLICATION FORM
In order to proceed with the selection process, we ask you to provide us with some additional documentation, beginning with this application form.
The Application Form is comprised of the following parts:
1. Basic Information
2. Start-Up, and
3. Motivation.
The application must be completed directly filled in following the instructions and typing into the designated boxes, replacing the text in blue italics.
We ask you to complete all fields on the ideas platform and upload both this document and a detailed business plan by May 30. Applications which are not complete by that time will not pass into the selection phase and will not be considered for the prize. You are encouraged to continue working on and editing your ideas in response to the discussions and commentary during the selection phase.
1.
Basic Information
1.1.
Applicant Information
Legal Name Denis Ssekitto
Username Denitto
1.2.
Title of Submission (From ideas.itu.int)
Finders
1.3.
URL of your idea (The web address for your idea on ideas.itu.int) https://ideas.itu.int/category/0?q=finders&qType=ideas#/post/55348
2.
Start-Up
1.4.
Tell us more about the Innovation in 200 words maximum in the box below by answering the following questions: How is your solution different from other existing solutions that address the Challenge? What is the novelty?
Usually,the most helpful innovations are the simple ones that everyone can access.Finders is based on simplicity and practicality. It covers a vast array of things we may get devastated over if lost and can be used on all platforms, be it mobile phone, personal computer or even short messaging service.
Finders is that virtual noticeboard that everyone has always thought of as needed but no one ever really got round to putting up.
The biggest advantage that Finders has over any other existing solution at the moment is the fact that it covers nearly all disaster situations, be it personal like lost documentation, communal, say lost property in the wake of disasters like earthquakes

or events of catastrophic nature like wars.Finders can be used to locate missing persons in such instances.
1.5.
Tell us more about the Social Impact in 200 words maximum by answering the following questions: What has been and is the projected impact (over the next 1-3 years) of your initiative? Outline the quality and the quantity; describe how it makes a difference!
Scenario One-There has been a landslide on the slopes of mount Elgon in
Uganda.Edward's three five year old son is missing and with all the confusion that comes with such a situation, he cannot be traced two days later.A district health worker posts in finders a picture and details of a young boy who was rescued and is at the health centre without relatives.Edward sends a text to Finders with his son's name and there is a match, with details on the current whereabouts of his son.
Scenario Two-After filming for two weeks in the Kenyan wilderness, Harris a photographer with a documentary television loses his bag to a thief.He is crushed and devastated. He posts on Finders details of his bag's contents and two hours later, even with the wallet and camera missing, his bag has been found with his films and travel document along with location where he can find them.
These are two different occurrences but with Finders,you save time and worry less at little or no cost at all
1.6.
Tell us more about the Implementation in 200 words maximum by answering the following questions: How do you plan to go about developing your start-up?
What are some of the milestones for your future development? What is the potential for growth?

Initially, Finders would be web based, as a website. Once it attains 100,000 users, we intend to make a mobile application for it.
We are working with sms media, a local telecom on how to make a lost and found database that can be accessed by short messaging service.This will ensure that even the simplest phones can access Finders as long as they have access to a telephone network.
Success in Uganda will see Finders open chapters by country and our lifelong goal is to attain a Finders virtual store in every country
1.7.
Tell us more about the Feasibility in 200 words maximum by answering the following questions: How do you envision success for your initiative? What barriers might hinder it? How do you plan to overcome them? What momentum does your initiative have? What phase is it at and how will it advance?
The biggest hinderances for Finders is access to technology especially in the rural areas where it may most be needed,however, We are trying to make it run on even the simplestmobile hardware and even further hope to make it siple to use even to the layman.
Language is also a problem considering not all areas of the country use the English language and therefore integrating it to include whole communities will require translations for some areas, and in this case, we intend to run pages in English and
Swahilli until we can accomodate other languages.
Finders is still in its mapping stages but a trial page is being setup to run for the
Makerere University to help us map out areas to coconsolidate on and also get feedback on how wecan make the project better.The pilot is targeting 5000 active users at the main campus.
1.8.
Tell us about your open source component in 200 words maximum by answering the following questions: Does your startup use existing open source technologies (If so, which)? Will it create hardware or software under an open source license? Why is it important that your work be open source and what

advantage do you see coming from that?
Finders uses existing mobile platforms for the application and will be web based for its database, however, it still can be accessed by short messaging service.
3.
Motivation
1.9.
Tell us more about yourself and the Young Innovators Competition in 100 words maximum by answering the following questions: Why are you applying to this competition? How will winning the ITU Telecom Young Innovators Competition help you deliver the initiative? Which benefits are crucial for you at this stage? Why should we choose you?
I have long awaited for someone to come up with a solution that can help me find my keys should I lose them at the beach, that is as instant as social media has come to be and after a long wait, I guess I just have to do it myself.
If I won this competition, I believe Finders would have a flying start to what I have envisioned and also finding partners for different chapters would be a lot easier.
At this stage, I would most benefit from getting in touch with the professionals who do the real coding work and specialists to develop Finders to what I envision.
I believe I should be chosen because Im sure everyone at one moment or another has been in a situation where Finders would have been a saving grace.
1.10.
Tell us more about yourself in 100 words maximum in the box below, by answering the following questions: What makes you a social entrepreneur? What are your most important skills, capabilities, and personality traits? How did you come up with the idea? Why is it important for you?

I am a mechanic by profession in a country where spare parts are hard to source and as of such,innovation is mandatory for my very survival, I am also very good at selling both services and tangible goods, I take pride in my work and insist on quality above all.
I came up with Finders at a trade show where I lost my keys and while looking for them, I came up to an announcer who already had different items including children who had been separated from their parents in the crowd and its then that it hit me, there must be hundreds of other people in the same space who were suffering beyond my little problem.
I believe Finders is the next big thing everyone has been waiting and silently longing for !