Zain proudly announces the third season of the Zain Africa Challenge (formerly Celtel Africa Challenge), the first ever televised academic competition among students at African universities.

Season Three Highlights:

• Universities in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone join those in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, bringing the field to over 100 eligible universities in eight countries.
• Each country will hold National Qualifying Tournaments.
• The top 32 national teams will advance to the International Championship & Festival in Kampala, Uganda in February, 2009.
• 31 programmes from the International Championship will be broadcast throughout Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The programme is part of Zain’s corporate social responsibility efforts targeting education and represents just an extension of Zain’s corporate commitment to “A Wonderful World” for their customers.

The questions in this fast-paced quiz programme cover a wide range of topic areas including: history, science, African culture, geography, literature, music and current events.  Additionally, Zain Africa Challenge highlights the excellent educational opportunities at African universities with videos and student profiles.

The Ministries of Education in each country along with the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) are key educational partners in the programme.

Announcing the programme, Tito Alai, Chief Commercial Officer of Zain International said: "This programme highlights Zain's commitment to developing the youth. They are the future of Africa and we want to give them more opportunities to develop their talents".

Zain Africa Challenge is broadcast as a knock-out tournament, resulting in a final champion.  All participating universities and students receive grants based on their ranking in the tournament.