Cappable' screen shots

They are called the X women in Codegirl and they will be seen in a documentary film as they take to the big screen on February 12 at PVR in the city. It all started when this group of five 14-year-old girls from National Public School, Indiranagar built an app called Cappable to create job opportunities for people with disabilities and provide them with skill training.

While on a shopping spree, Soumya, Cheryll, Shivalika, Diya and Niyati found a disabled staff and worked on Cappable, a career development mobile application. While they presented their app at Technovation 2015, in San Francisco, they got the chance to be shot for a documentary called Codegirl and they can’t wait to watch themselves on the big screen this Friday.

Explaining how the chance to be featured in a documentary film came their way, Soumya Tejam says, “The documentary was a surprise once we made it to the finals and went to the US to collect our award in 2015. It was shot all throughout our trip, right from our arrival at San Francisco International Airport till the night of the world pitch. It was shot in USA, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and Moldova.

They covered each finalist team participating in the world pitch event and the community problem they chose and how they geared up for the pitch night. We were among the top 10 finalists among the 65 countries that participated from the world over. We didn’t act, but were shot all along the five-day hectic tour from workshops and exhibitions to the final checks on the pitch night. The fun part was when we were interviewed on our project. After the award where we participated in workshops and presented our project at the ceremony, we also went on a tour around SFO.”

The ninth grade student, Cherryl Bibin, adds, “The experience we gained in terms of conceptualising a technological solution for a social cause, understanding a jargon of business case, market potential, revenue model and competitor landscape has changed our perspective.

The world pitch night at SFO taught us that teamwork and dedication can help you achieve anything.” Ask Diya Marwah on how they got lucky and she states, “While we were creating the app we were contacted by Lesley Chilcott (the director) and her team who informed us about the documentary they were filming. We were filmed while we geared up in preparation for our pitch night. It is an inspiration for girls who want to venture into the tech world.”

Bengaluru being the IT hub of India, the film holds relevance for all those who want to make a career out of coding. Recalling a fun incident, Niyati Dasari quips, “All of us were walking down the road humming a song until we realised the camera crew was filming us and we fell into complete silence. We were nervous while pitching our app, but Lesley and her team made us comfortable.” Thanking Technovation 2015 programme, Shivalika Kohli avers, “We are happy that we got to do something for our society using technology.

Our qualification was to get through to the finals in San Francisco and we did. It was quite the celebrity experience as we were followed by cameras everywhere. We were filled with excitement and nervousness at the world pitch event as it’s not that easy to put out your idea up for judging in front of a crowd from different countries from the world. Through this documentary many girls will be inspired.”