Zain Africa Challenge is an academic quiz programme involving the universities in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.  The 2008-2009 year is the third year of the programme.

University teams in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will meet in their home country on 15 January to compete in Qualifying Tournaments. Teams in Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Zambia will meet to compete on 19 January and teams in Nigeria will compete on 22 January.

The top teams from those competitions will advance to the Zain Africa Challenge Championship Festival, to be held 13 - 23 February in Kampala, Uganda.  Those final 32 teams will play a knockout tournament, with 31 programmes being recorded for television broadcast throughout the region from March, 2009.

How were the universities chosen?

All chartered and accredited universities in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia who meet the criteria are eligible to participate. Universities in Nigeria were selected through a collaboration with Zain and the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC). Eligible universities must complete the online enrollment form.  The deadline is 5 November, 2008.

How are the university teams selected?

The competition begins at the universities in November & December, 2008.  Each university conducts Student Tryout Tests.  From those tests, 12-20 students are selected to be members of the Zain Africa Challenge Scholars Club.  Club members meet and practice together for 1-2 weeks.  The coach then selects the university's Zain Africa Challenge Scholars Team in mid-December, 2008.  Team members are limited to one year of participation and must meet player eligibility requirements.

How is the game played?

Zain Africa Challenge is a fast-paced game involving three students on each of two teams.  There are four rounds in each programme.  During each of the first three rounds, one student from each of the two teams compete head-to-head, playing face-off questions.  The players rotate between rounds so that each of the three players will compete in one face-off round.  When a player correctly answers a 10 point face-off, that team receives a 20 point bonus question on which they all confer.  Each face-off round is approximately 4 minutes in length (3 minutes in the Computerized version and at the Qualifying Tournaments).  After the third round, both teams play the Ultimate Challenge round where they attempt to answer 10 questions in 60 seconds. For more information, consult the game rules and sample questions pages.

What are the prizes?

Grants are based on each university team's final standing in the competition.  The further a university's team advances, the larger the grant the university receives.  Grants for the individual recipients (four students plus the coach and liaison) are also based on the university team's finish in the tournament.  Zain is awarding nearly $1,000,000 USD in total cash, travel grants and educational materials. Additional information is available on the Zain Grants page.