A mobile racing game has won this year’s Pivot East developer challenge. Ma3Racer is a game set on the busy Nairobi roads and is developed by Planet Rackus Limited.

The gaming app beat 24 other contestants to win an all-expense paid, five day trip to showcase at GITEX technology week in Dubai, and possibly investors who took note of their achievement.

Launched slightly over an year ago, Ma3Racer broke into the top 30 most downloaded apps on Nokia store a week after its début in the store with over 12,000 downloads. Overall downloads to date has hit over 280,000 in 169 countries.

The racing game, which mirrors the chaotic Nairobi traffic, also won in the entertainment category.

School Bursar won in the financial Services category for their efforts to streamline the process of receiving and managing payments through M-Pesa.

MafutaGo!, developed by a Ugandan team, scooped the utilities category. The app helps users find the nearest fuel station with the prices and services that best suit their needs.

Another Ugandan team also won in the Business and resource category. Easy Order is a SMS based ordering and supply chain management application that simplifies the way customers order for goods from manufacturers and distributors.

mPrep – an SMS-based platform helping students access quality educational material won the Mobile Society category.