Our Exhibitors

Bio:

Pidson is a graduate mechanical engineer from Makerere University with experience spanning over five years. He is a serial innovator and believes that he can come up with an innovative solution to any challenge. He has been exposed to and certified in Human Centered Design, HSE, water pumping and irrigation systems. Pidson is well conversant with mechanical engineering design software like Solid works and Solid edge. Pidson also helps spread the gospel of innovation through Tuyiiye Uganda which is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to mobilize, organize and train the population so that they can be able to develop solutions for their day to day challenges through innovation. Pidson is so passionate about making the world a better place through engineering design and innovation.

Solution Description:

Research by Ugandan Ministry of Health shows that at a tap at a public water point, there is 60% risk that you will walk away with an infection which could either affect you or the next person whose hand you are going to shake. PedalTap is a retrofitable, adaptable, affordable and hands-free foot-operated water dispensing system that can be connected to any tap system and water drums anywhere. It has been designed to reduce the growth and frequency of potent and infectious diseases like colds, flu, Ebola from existing taps at water points in public spaces. Benefits include the fact that the device can be connected on any tap system anywhere including drums of any size for remote areas and that it can be connected to the existing water tap system. The solution is also hands free and germs free and manufactured with low cost raw materials. The current prototype is estimated to cost USD 40.

Bio:

James Dick has over 25 years’ experience as an agronomist and plant physiologist and has gained agronomic experience in South Africa, the USA and the UK. He has specialised in most aspects of hydroponics, soft-fruit and top-fruit production and has worked for Agrovista UK Ltd where he was responsible for providing agronomic advice to the fruit sector in the UK.  James is currently based in Hermanus, Western Cape consulting to Nvirotek Laboratories (soil, leaf and sap analysis interpretation) and Terratek (precision farming).  He also consults in his private capacity on plant physiology, soil-health and integrated pest management country-wide and is a director of Home Farms Singapore as well as providing technical and agronomic support for state of the art hydroponics production facilities in Singapore.

Solution Description:

The HiGro Systems tower concept gives home owners/individuals in poorer communities, typically living in high-density living environments, the opportunity to produce food that can augment their current diet, using very little water. The tower can grow 48 plants and only uses 5 litres of water a day.  The tower is grey-water compatible; does not require electricity and is low maintenance, as it only requires one irrigation per day. The Tower is vertically orientated and is therefore space saving. The irrigation system is a reticulation system so there is no fertiliser pollution of the ground water. The tower is unlikely to get stolen because the materials are of low value.

ICT support will be provided through the CSIR’s In Touch Africa® software system for the creation, maintenance, distribution and presentation of detail on individuals/households. The app will track the systems by recording basic info of the household, their location and the actions they are taking. The ICT support system will ensure that trouble-shooting and maintenance is done effectively and timeously.  Governments, NGOs and financial contributors can monitor the success of the social-upliftment projects via the ICT dashboard and monthly updates.

Bio:

Victor Shikoli is an Electrical and Electronics Engineer from the Mount Kenya University. He has more than 4 years’ experience in the technology business and helping society achieve sustainable development goals. Victor is the co-founder and COO at Hydrologistics Africa Ltd in Kenya. He co-founded Electrosoft Ltd, a sanitation technology company in 2013. He has received recognition by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and is an alumni of Techstars, the US-based accelerator based in Paris. He is an avid reader who is passionate about everything technology and recently spoke on the subject Smart Cities at the Africa Tech Summit in Kigali in February 2018.

Solution Description:

319 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to clean and safe water. Additionally, 50% of the water supplied by water utilities is lost before reaching the consumer. The challenge facing water utilities is the high level of water loss in distribution networks; hence meeting consumer demands is much more difficult. Since this water yields no revenue, heavy losses make it harder to keep water tariffs affordable due to high Non-Revenue Water that is not billed which averages 50% in Kenya and other African cities. HydroIQ is a smart metering device that is plugged into the existing water supply network, turning the traditional water system into a smart water grid. HydroIQ is installed at households to monitor consumption in real-time, and allow consumers to pay for only the water they consume on a pay-as-you-go basis using mobile money. To the consumers, the solution allows them to regulate and manage their water use and receive alerts when water is running low. The system is efficient and, more importantly, fair. For the Water Utilities, the solution allows detection leaks in real-time as they receive immediate alerts.

Bio:

Immanuel is a registered professional Engineer and also holds an MBA in entrepreneurship from Steinbeis University, Berlin. Through his company Profile Namibia Chemicals, he innovated and patented a solution to produce chlorine for water purification (to fight cholera) by electrolyzing salt using solar. His idea was selected Semi finalists in the Technology Idea GIST (Tech-I) 2015 competition by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the US Department of State. Immanuel has since given a Ted talk about his innovation solution and in 2016, he met President Barack Obama in Washington as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders programme. In May 2017 he was invited to Pitch at Oxford Africa Conference’s Innovation Fair and in 2018, his start-up was selected as the finalist for Dubai Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant.

Solution Description:

There has been a recent recurrence outbreak of cholera in Namibia and Africa at large with many associated fatalities recorded. Cholera is caused by the vibrio cholera bacteria found in dirty or sewerage water. Cholera can be easily prevented by simply purifying water with diluted chlorine, however, the product chlorine is not easily accessible to those living in rural areas. A spoonful of chlorine can dilute up to 20 litres of dirty water, but currently, all chlorine products are imported into Namibia which makes it expensive for an ordinary Namibian to afford. This solution produces chlorine by electrolysing salt using solar energy. The salt is electrolysed using solar energy to produce chlorine in an environmentally friendly manner.

Bio:

Venuste Kubwimana has been Secretary General of International Transformation Foundation (ITF) since 2009. He is a youth activist and social entrepreneur. In 2017 he took part in two competitions: “Youth 4 South” organised by the UN office for South to South Cooperation; and “Education Business Plan Competition: at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2016, he participated in the Global Citizen Youth Advocates Symposium and the American Express Emerging Innovators Cohort and was nominated for the Nelson Mandela-Graça Machel Innovation Awards. Prior to that, during 2015, he was nominated for the Future Awards Africa – Enterprise Support and was a Guest Speaker at Africa Prosperity Summit in Dar es Salaam and achieved a World Merit title as an “Agent of Change in the UK.

Solution Description:

In East African countries, every morning, school-going children wake up early to walk long distances so as to secure water for their families from rivers or wells before going to school, causing absenteeism resulting in school drop-outs. In 2013, International Transformation Foundation members worked together on a research project in their countries (Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) focussed on providing a sustainable clean drinking water system. One of the key insights learned was that all communities wish to improve their water systems. For some; they do not have a working water system at all. The Water Kiosk at School is a school-based and student-managed business selling clean tap water to community residents at an affordable price. It consists of financing a community school to set up onsite water kiosks and providing them with sustainable products for the students to transport tap water from school to their homes. A water kiosk at school is both an educational and profitable business teaching the students business and entrepreneurial skills and generating much-needed income for schools.

Bio:

Raised in Accra, Ghana, Emmanuel has witnessed first hand the bottlenecks present in the country’s land administration system. After his studies at the University of Michigan, Emmanuel returned to Ghana in 2015 where he undertook an 18-month Gates Foundation-funded research project at the country’s Lands Commission. There, he was able to foster strong government relations at the Lands Commission and build a team of fellow innovators to tackle the roadblocks in the Commission's path towards digitalisation and BenBen was born. Emmanuel is an alumnus of the 2016 Barclays Rise Accelerator Programme and a recognized United Nations Solutions Maker and graduate of the 2016 United Nations Solutions Summit Cohort. As of today, Emmanuel continues to guide BenBen as CEO and oversees its projects with various financial institutions. He advises the Government of Ghana on Property Reform issues in his capacity as a technical specialist on the Property Reforms Working Group under the Business Regulatory Reforms Initiative of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Solution Description:

On average, up to 80% of land transactions occur off the formal land market in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result land based financial transactions experience high risk premiums due to insufficient land & property market data.  In Ghana, up to 50% of civil court cases are land related, with these figures remaining unchanged, African land markets continue to remain a risky territory for both citizens, and prospective investors, where access to both reliable data and trusted transactions is relatively unavailable. BenBen is a business-to-government digital land transaction firm that leverages blockchain technology to tackle the inefficiencies of land administration to promote secured land-based investment, reduce poverty and encourage transparent land resource management. BenBen facilitates land-based financial transactions between land/property market actors in emerging market economies. By processing private sector land transactions, BenBen is able de-risk land/property based financial transactions by providing access, to trusted, real-time market data, and analytics.

Bio:

Carlos Santos is Executive Administrator of NOSI-EPE. He served as Executive Secretary of the Cape Verde Reform Coordination Unit (UCRE) and coordination of the Good Governance Pillar in the framework of the Special Partnership with the European Union. He holds a degree in Law from the Universidad Classic of Lisboa in Portugal and has held various positions in the Cape Verde Public Administration, from the Director General of the Public Administration to the Director General of the MFP Studies Office and Coordinator of Financial Reforms through the coordination of the agreement established with the IMF - Policy Support Instrument (PSI), also integrating the negotiating team. He held the provisional coordination of the 1st Compact and Program of the Millennium Challenge Account - Cape Verde (MCA-CV) and Chairs the Advisory Council of the property rights and registration component of the 2nd Compact and Millennium Challenge Account Program MCA-CV. He founded and is a member of the Commission for the Creation of the Consumer Defense Association and is Vice President of the Praia Development Association.

Solution Description:

IGRP stands for Integrated Government Resource Planning which provides an integrated package of solutions for e-governance across all sectors such as registry, finance, health, education, elections and municipalities, amongst others. The main objectives of IGRP is to better serve the citizens and to improve the entire public administration by reducing the need for the citizen to have multiple interactions with any Public Administration, to minimize bureaucracy and duplication of data (one citizen, one registry) and to simplify processes to increases the efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery to citizens. IGRP is a unique platform that allows for the development and hosting of e-Government applications in an integrated way, through the analysis of the business processes by making use of workflow engine and code generator.

Bio:

Jackline is passionate about journalism, writing and reading. Her interests include working to bridge the information gap in Uganda and East Africa, reducing corruption in Uganda, encouraging girls to reach their full potential; advocating for human Rights and a just world; improving media freedoms and working on youth employment and empowerment. She currently works with social media as a blogger, writer, activist and technologist to reach these goals. She is a Ugandan feminist journalist who is interested in making sure that the woman’s story is represented and told alongside their male counterparts. She writes and contributes to Women Uganda, an online space where issues that affect women in Uganda are shared, questioned, appreciated and dissected.

Solution Description:

Online Policy Tracker seeks to address the information gap when it comes to legislation and Policy across Uganda and Africa. Young people, despite being the majority in Uganda, are treated as a minority, with limited political representation and access to information. Parliaments are looked at as sacred places and legislation and government policy is treated as something that can only be understood by a certain class of citizens who have a particular level of education, completely eliminating the fact that bad polices and poor legislation affect everyone regardless of class, gender or even age.

Online Policy Tracker is an online solution dedicated to monitoring the Ugandan Parliament through live tweeting plenary sittings, breaking down the technical language and making it easy to consume by young people. Media has a tendency of cherry-picking the stories to publish, whereas this solution highlights key stories that need to be published. The website includes a bills tracker, showing the stages of different bills and a loan tracker showing Government borrowing. All this information can be accessed by everyone.

Bio:

Chifungu Samazaka is an app developer, beekeeper and amateur astronomer who is based in rural Zambia. His apps include Pestmapp (a fast, easy and reliable way for smallholder farmers to control pests and plant diseases with images), BITKwacha Money (simple algorithms to bank and climate-insure the unbanked and undocumented), OpenGridMapp (a clean energy asset mapping tool for turn-key smart grid deployment) and Recyclebot (a zero-waste global P2P waste recycling platform). He is currently studying Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at MITx.

Solution Description:

More than 50% of the total waste generated daily on the continent is left unattended and, usually ends up in water drains causing perennial floods and ‘killer’ diseases. Consumers, including individuals, households and institutions, lack an easy way to dispose of their solid waste; they do not have the tools, data or support to process waste at the source and there are few accessible reviews to guide recycling process.

Recyclebot is a zero-waste P2P recycling platform that allows consumers to add value to any solid waste material and get rewards by simply taking a photo. Recyclebot allows any waste buyer to source specific waste directly from the producer with cryptocurrency, giving them the ability to buy, sell and trade any solid waste from anywhere in the world. Recyclebot automatically captures the accurate GPS locations and aggregate waste data by type and location and connects waste buyers to waste sellers to create and support optimal schedules and routes for efficient transfer and allow P2P payments using Artificial Intelligence on a globally decentralized Blockchain.

Bio:

Clement Mokeonene was born and raised in the Free State, South Africa and studied Civil Engineering at Wits University. His passion lies with re-engineering traditional civil engineering functions towards redressing social ills. In 2009, he founded and now manages a civil engineering consultancy firm, Epitome Consulting, with a total staff complement of 30 employees based in South Africa.

Solution Description:

Traffic is an urban reality and this energy solution seeks to harness the oversupply of traffic to address a number of issues of electricity supply and demand such as a lack of access to electricity, greenhouse gas emissions, high cost of electricity, and water wastage in electricity production, slow electricity rollout and unemployment. The Vehicle Energy Harvesting System (VEHS) uses a specially designed overlay layer onto any existing or new road to harvest the traffic pressure and uses this pressure to drive a traffic turbine and generate electricity. VEHS can be implemented and commissioned in 6 months. Assembly, installation, operation and maintenance of VEHS is done locally by the communities, leading to an increase in much needed employment and greater access to electricity.

Bio:

Bryan is the head of business development and Co-founder of Pyro-Degrade Waste Management. He is a serial innovator with hands on experience in start-ups that tackle societal pain points. He is also the founder and CEO of Sirius Systems and a commerce graduate from Daystar University class of 2012. Bryan gained his interest in entrepreneurship from the times he spent working in his grandfather’s supermarket and his other grandfather’s automobile garage. He has been called a dreamer because of the crazy ideas and his constant need to fix or find solutions to common challenges faced by people on a day to day basis.

Solution Description:

It is a widely known fact that pollution, and especially that created by plastic, is hazardous to the environment and the world and all manner of creatures who live in it. Pyro-Degrade Waste Management aims to eradicate plastic waste from the environment by converting it into useful clean energy. Through a process known as pyrolysis, Pyro-Degrade Waste Management provides a proper and much-needed end life to plastic waste by conversion into synthetic diesel fuel. This fuel has significant uses, even in diesel engines without any conversion of the engine itself. The way in which pyro-Degrade Waste Management processes the plastic into fuel is an environmental responsive process that has a very low carbon footprint compared to incinerators.

Bio:

Simbarashe is the founder and Managing Director of Oxygen Africa, a Zimbabwean renewable energy development company focused on commercial and industrial rooftop solar photovoltaic projects, as well as a second with Minerva Risk Advisors, a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and employee benefits consulting in Zimbabwe. In 2016, Simba was named as one of Africa’s 30 most promising and inspirational young entrepreneurs in Africa by Forbes Magazine and also recognised by the Africa Youth Awards as one of 100 most Influential Young Africans of the year. Afk Insider magazine named him among 12 Most Promising African Entrepreneurs of 2016 whilst in 2017 Africa.com named him among 40 Africans Under 40 – Making It In Africa.

Solution Description:

In order for Africa to grow it requires electrical power. More than 600 million out of a population of about 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have reliable electricity access. Energy presents an enormous opportunity for young African's to develop their continent and build the next generation multinational power corporations and create employment.  

Adoption of renewable energy solutions to encourage clean, affordable and reliable energy access for both large corporate companies and SMEs is very low in Zimbabwe with currently little or no adoption of solar, due to the high upfront costs and ownership issues. Oxygen Energy, together with a large investment partner, have developed a 20MW commercial rooftop solar project spread across a large property portfolio of 215 commercial and industrial buildings at a cost of $28 million dollars. Oxygen Energy will finance, develop, own and operate the solar installations under a take or pay power purchase agreement with the off-take partners for an agreed fixed tariff; thereby assuming the financing, technology and operational risk of the power plants. Off takers have no upfront costs, they will only pay for the power generated. Upon completion the project it is projected that a net power generation of 32 GWh per year will be achieved, with total CO2 emissions avoided by the project being 30 000 tonnes, saving the government up to $4.5 million in import substitutions of power per year.

Bio:

Tony Nyagah is the CEO of Strauss Energy, an internationally award-winning energy company that has devised innovative ways to bridge the energy gap in Africa at large. For its work Strauss Energy has since been feted with top awards and recognition from renowned organizations such as The World Economic Forum, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) held in Stanford University in Palo Alto, Global Innovation Through Science & Technology (GIST) and the United Nations, as well as the winner of the Africa Leadership Network award to mention a few.

Solution Description:

70% of African’s live without access to clean reliable and affordable electricity and burn paraffin and firewood for their energy use. The remaining 30% of the population that does have access to electricity are often plagued by power outages as well as intermittent electricity bills that keep increasing. Strauss Energy installs mini-grids in rural areas and integrates solar cells in building materials as well as builds solar farms to bridge this energy gap. Projects include the latest in cutting-edge energy technology solutions such as Compressed Air Hydraulic Energy Storage (CAES), which has no power supply limitations like traditional batteries and assures no more power outages for the next 30+ years ever. The solution by-product is also clean water.

Bio:

Ahmed launched Mobile Solar Pump as a tool to pursue his entrepreneurial passion and community service. Ahmed earned his bachelor’s degree in education, English major in 2004, and gained his master’s of science in Sustainable development from the American University in Cairo in 2016. He was chosen to represent Egypt as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in the USA.

On the academic level, Ahmed’s master thesis was about Introducing Social Entrepreneurship Education into Public Universities Curriculum and he has completed a number of training courses on Green Economy, Design and installation of Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Pumping systems.

Solution Description:

500 million small farmers around the world own less than one acre; these farmers depend on rain fall or diesel pumps to irrigate their fields. Climate change has profoundly impacted the rain fall, where wide areas experience prolonged periods of drought or floods. This is harshly impacting the amount and quality of crops grown by these farmers leaving them vulnerable to meeting and affording their basic needs. Another segment of these farmers use diesel pumps for irrigation, which are becoming more expensive to operate given the price of diesel in many countries and cost associated with transporting that diesel as well. These pumps are also expensive to maintain and last for short time periods adding more replacement costs on small farmers. The Mobile Solar Pump is a zero-operating cost alternative to diesel pumps. This solution integrates mobility features to enable farmers to move, secure and even share the same pump with his neighbour farmers, reducing the cost of ownership. The pump is easy to operate and almost maintenance-free with an expected life span of more than 20 years.

Bio:

Zachary Mbuthia is a passionate and ethical professional with solid experience in Financial Accounting & Administration. Over the years, he has grown to become a reliable and dependable team player providing strategic financial sustainability solutions to the most challenging problems faced by the modern firm.

Solution Description:

Indoor Air Pollution continues as one of the main causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through exposure to indoor smoke from combustion of solid fuels, such as firewood and charcoal fuels. Other impacts of the fossil fuels for energy include environmental degradation and deforestation and lost education and income generating opportunities for women and children because of spending several hours a day collecting fuel-wood for household use sometimes many kilometres away from their homes. Prosol has developed the EcoJiko Stove and the EcoFireplace which run on Prosol’s EcoFuel, which is denatured bio-ethanol. The fuel provides the highest amount of energy for the smallest dollar amount so is highly efficient and non-polluting. These innovative products not only address the adverse environmental and health impacts occasioned by wood and charcoal fuel, but also provide jobs and opportunities for local communities.

Bio:

Mandlakazi Zuko studied banking and Accountancy and has worked and acquired experience as an Accounting Officer and Project Manager working for Guarantee Trust, Absa Bank, Eskom and EduLoan. He has received several awards and acknowledgements including selected participant in the Ureka Innovation Week in Sweden, the Pioneers Festival in Austria and Venture Leaders in Switzerland. He was awarded the South African Breweries Foundation Social Innovation Award, the Standard Bank Rising Star Awards Gauteng Accelerator Programme Award and is a selected Brightest Young Minds South Africa.

Solution Description:

In South Africa at the North West School for the Deaf, three deaf pupils died while sleeping because they did not hear the fire evacuation alarm. These deaths were preventable. This inability to be alerted by sounds such as alarms, the noise made by intruders or even hearing the cries of their children, puts deaf people in a very vulnerable position. Zuko Mandlakazi has developed a wearable wristband that picks up sounds and communicates these sounds to the user through vibration and colour coded LED lighting. The user programmes each colour to a particular sound so that they can know whether the sound is their children, indicated by a pink flashing LED for example, or the forced entry of an intruder, indicated by a red colour. The solution provides the convenience of alerting through vibration and light rather than sound which can be distorted or overpowered in the presence of other external noise. The device is fully functional everywhere including remote rural areas, as it does not rely on a network to transmit sounds and can detect sounds within a radius of 400m.

Bio:

James Makumbi is a serial Entrepreneur and Innovator. He is a Co-founder and Business Development Manager at EpiTent Limited, where, while he isn't tweaking the product with the EpiTent Team, he looks at finding new ways to increase value in EpiTent and creating a sustainable business around the EpiTent product. James is also founder and CEO of Billable Limited the Business Information Management Solutions provider behind Africa’s first locally produced law firm management solution “Billable Hours.” While his core passion is Information Technology, James also loves to interact with, advise and even mentor other entrepreneurs in sectors such as agriculture, health, and even education.

Solution Description:

Tents are the most commonly used structures for humanitarian services.
However, they are also poor at heat exchange when fully enclosed. Their materials transmit heat and trap hot air causing massive temperature build-up inside. Current cooling solutions require access to electricity, funding and the expertise to keep these cooling systems running, all of which present obstacles in many countries across Africa. Without changing the popular form factor of existing tents too much, Epitent causes a passive cooling effect that makes their tents over ten degrees cooler than existing tents whilst also cutting down on humidity inside by over ninety percent. Epitents are modular (as big or as small as needed) and extensible, allowing for easy accessorizing. End-users are able to mission tailor their tents easily and cost effectively while maintaining the familiarity of tents. The innovation is in the use of non-assisted adaptive systems to cause the cooling.
 

Bio:

Joan Nalubega is an entrepreneur, passionate about saving lives with the purpose of creating a malaria free world. With coaching and mentorship, she received from Social Innovation Academy, she founded Uganics in 2016.

Solution Description:

Uganics is a social business aimed at creating a malaria free world. By incorporating and affordable repellent into everyday use, Uganics makes malaria protection safe and accessible to everyone without needing to incur any behavioural changes. Uganics is an affordable long-lasting organic mosquito repellent soap that prevents mosquito bites. By utilizing an everyday product to effectively repel mosquitoes, Uganics provides an economically accessible solution without the need to incur behavioural changes. When used for bathing, mosquitoes are repelled for 6 hours and if used for washing, repellent components stay in the clothes and the water poured out from the washing prevents mosquitoes from breeding. To increase awareness and impact, Uganics also facilitates malaria prevention outreaches and training to mothers in their local and trusted hospitals. Soap sales to resorts and tourists at a high margin helps to cross-subsidized the product to provide poorer households in rural communities with an affordable solution to protect themselves at the cost of regular soap.

Bio:

Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan, M.D. occupies a unique place in his career and service to humanity. Dr. Dougbeh is Liberia’s only medical doctor who is also a biomedical research scientist, an inventor, as well as a social activist.

Solution Description:

Many African countries lack sophisticated diagnostic devices. There is limited expertise in high-tech diagnostics in these countries and current testing methods take about 3 hours to 7 days to get just one test result. In addition, many infections in Africa present similar clinical symptoms. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, some patients who were suffering from Malaria or Typhoid fever were misdiagnosed as having Ebola, because there was no test to perform detection and identification of the infectious agent at the same time. Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan, M.D has developed a multiple-infections diagnostic test that is (a) portable and can be deployed in remote hard-to-reach settings, (b) simple-to-use, and (c) requires no specialized technical expertise to perform. This test can detect HIV-HBV-HCV-TB co-infections, as well as detect and simultaneously differentiate or identify 3 to 7 infections in just 10 to 40 minutes, using just one test. This is a practical solution that enables healthcare providers to make a definite diagnosis and apply specific treatment to the benefit of the patients, thus avoiding antibiotic resistance or resistance to antiviral medications. The entire detection system fits in a college-size back-pack and can be powered by a simple car battery by plugging it in the car cigarette lighter apparatus. Solar power is currently being looked at as a potential power supply.

Bio:

Atef Ali is an activist and entrepreneur. In recognition for his voluntary work, in 2012, he was chosen to participate in the MENA Leadership Programme organized by Japan Foundation in Tokyo under the theme “Leadership in Building community and nation”. From 2014, he has worked on a project helping People with Disabilities, especially people with hearing impairment, to overcome the lack of communication between them and the community through a game called “Sign Heroes”. This solution teaches sign language in easy and fun ways and he was selected as a fellow in The Game Changer Fellowship by UNDP Egypt in 2015. Currently, he runs a family contracting business and is a co-founder of Arkan Architects.

Solution Description:

The lack of communication between deaf children and the rest of society leads to their suffering and frustration and in many places inhibits them from having decent and equal education opportunities. Children with hearing impairment are often misunderstood and experience judgement towards them, leading to feelings of marginalization and inadequacy. Sign Heroes is a board game that the deaf child can use to teach a hearing person Sign language in a fun and easy way. In this way the game is a common ground to communicate.  Another aim of the game is to create empathy and using game design to overcome communication challenges in an effective way whilst making learning Sign Language easy, fun and cheap and to open up a whole world to both deaf and hearing children alike.

Bio:

Ifeoluwa Olokode is a Biology enthusiast who turned to technology with over 4 years international working experience managing client relations at start-ups in New York and London. Excited for the opportunity to meld her love for healthcare, technology, and problem-solving, she leads the Partnerships and Growth team at LifeBank where she finds, cultivates and executes partnership opportunities that drive LifeBank’s core business.

Solution Description:

Every year in African hospitals, hundreds of people die because essential medical supplies could not be found on time and in the right condition.  Hospital level stock-outs of supplies such as blood, plasma, platelets, oxygen, vaccines, organs, and rare drugs lead to many deaths of Africa’s most vulnerable people. This problem of essential supplies stock-outs is so pervasive, it affects thousands of sickle cell anaemia patients, surgery patients, and accidents victims. Nigeria, home to 9% of the global population living with HIV, has the second largest HIV disease burden in the world with 3.2 million infected people. Between 5 and 15% of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa can be attributed to unsafe blood transfusions. The problem is caused by inefficient logistics in collection, testing, storage, and delivery of these products.

LifeBank uses data, smart logistics and a combination of low technology like feature mobile phones and motorcycles, and high technology such as AI and blockchain, to discover and deliver essential medical products, saving lives in hospitals across Africa. LifeBank is currently working on the blood shortage problem in Nigeria by connecting hospitals to blood banks, and blood banks to donors. This is done by mobile infrastructure to create a community of voluntary blood donors, and by delivering blood in less than 45 minutes, in a WHO Blood Transfusion Safety compliant cold chain, to hospitals. LifeBank is also developing a BlockChain powered product, SmartBag, that records and preserves the integrity of information about the processes involved in blood supply.

Bio:

Neo is an engineer professional with 7 years of experience in manufacturing, last mile delivery, access to medicine in public health, innovation and new product design. He is goal orientated, driven person who believes in delivering value to everything he applies his mind to. His work approach is to always be analytical, logical, objective, decisive, experimental and clear and he aspires to be a leader who is always people-centric.

Solution Description:

South Africa has the world's largest antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme for patients living with HIV and AIDS, and there has been a steady increase in the number of patients with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) who require chronic therapy. This has led to an over-extension of public sector healthcare facilities including primary healthcare clinics that currently serve 84% population in South Africa. A patient's experience tends to be one of long waiting times, high transport costs and loss of income. TechnoVera has developed Pelebox, a smart locker solution that allows a patient to collect chronic medication in under 2 minutes. Pre-packed medication is loaded into a compartment for a particular patient; the system then sends a mobile text with a one-time-pin to that patient; the patients would then make their way to a collection unit and authenticate themselves using their one-time-pin together with their mobile number. Smart lockers for chronic medication work in a setting where national health ministries need to reach more people but are limited by the number of traditional healthcare facilities, staff shortages and higher patient volumes.

Bio:

Philippa Ngaju Makobore has 6 years of experience in electronic/embedded systems application design. She received a Bachelor Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2008, Canada, a Professional Certificate in Embedded Systems Engineering in 2016 from the University of California, Irvine, USA and is currently pursuing an MSE in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA. In 2011, she developed a strategic plan to spearhead the creation and implementation of an Instrumentation Division at Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI). The core activity of UIRI would be to design embedded systems applications to tackle developmental issues in healthcare, agriculture, energy efficiency and control systems for industrial applications, with healthcare being a top priority. To date Philippa leads a team of 9 engineers that have over the past 4 years undertaken applied research and development in the area of affordable and appropriate medical technology for maternal and child health. To date the team has a portfolio of 4 medical devices of which 3 are in their advanced prototype stages.

Solution Description:

Proper medical care relies on accuracies in the flow rate during administration of intravenous fluids and drugs. Inaccuracies are often due to the lack of safety features during therapy and the difficulty in using imported infusion pumps. The existing standard of care for administering intravenous fluids and drugs is manual regulation by a clinician. This is prone to human error and with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:11000 in Uganda this further compounds the problem. Imported infusion pumps are mostly donated and this makes it difficult to service equipment as most donated equipment has reached end of life and spare parts are difficult to source. These pumps are also mainly powered by AC mains electricity meaning rural areas with limited power supply cannot utilize them.

The Electronically Controlled Gravity Feed Infusion Set (ECGF) is a therapeutic medical device innovation that provides a solution that is appropriate and affordable for the low resource context to safely and accurately administer intravenous fluids and drugs to patients that require them. The ECGF has been designed to automate the entire infusion therapy process while providing safety alarms for the safety of the patient and to alleviate the clinician work burden The ECGF has already been clinically piloted and preparations for larger trials are underway.

Bio:

Ruth Nabembezi has presented and exhibited at the biggest IT expo “CeBIT” in Germany. She became a Global Change maker and a Lioness of Africa in 2016. The BBC nominated Ruth as a finalist for the Outlook Inspirations Award 2016 for her inspiring dedication as an HIV orphan who transformed her tragedy into a successful social enterprise. She won the African Woman Award 2016 in the category of Young Change Makers in Zimbabwe, the appsAfrica Award in the categories of Social Impact in South Africa and the Uganda Start-up Cup. Ruth will be representing Uganda at an international level. She won the Queen’s Young Leaders award 2017 and is an Echoing Green fellow.

Solution Description:

The HIV rate in Uganda is at 7.4%, teenage pregnancies are common and discrimination against women a prevalent problem.  In East Africa, embarrassment and fear prevent the majority of the youth from seeking information about sexual reproductive health and speaking about sex is considered taboo. Many youth have no or little access to the information they need. Girls, who have been abused or raped, often have nowhere to get support because they fear the stigmatisation and often they end up suffering in silence, believing that something is wrong with them while staying disempowered. Knowledge is power. Informing girls about what to do in emergency situations can have a big impact on their lives. But without access to information and support, self-blame, rumours and myths are often spread.

Ask Without Shame provides emergency sex education via mobile technology through an android app, WhatsApp, Hotline and SMS. Medical experts and counsellors are available 24/7 to assist users with the right information regarding sexuality. It is a free and confidential service. The app and the toll free number guarantee anonymity. Ask Without Shame is offering sex education at the fingertips of every youth from the age of 12 to 35 years without judgment or shame. Many users share information they are too ashamed and afraid to share with anyone else. Offline medical services and coaching are provided through a freemium model at a clinic in Kampala.

Bio:

Jacob is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Securities and Investment Analyst, as well as having obtained his Computerized Accounting from the Aberdeen College of Accountancy. He has a Masters in Global Business Management, Social Entrepreneurship Track from the Catholic University of Milan in Italy. In 2015, he won the COMESA Innovation Award in Ethiopia and the Entrepreneurship for Impact Award for East Africa. He is a selected Brightest Young Minds in Africa. Jacob is hard working, a quick learner, eager to learn.

Solution Description:

More than 1.2 million lives are lost every year while more than 44 million are left hospitalized in Africa alone due to road accidents. Every 4 minutes, a child dies in a road accident somewhere in the world with 80% of these cases being in Africa. In addition, most car-jackings are violent leaving victims injured and/or badly hurt. This results in high national medical bill allocations due to injuries arising from road accidents with developing countries having to allocate disproportionate amounts of their budgets. AfricarTrack is a small gadget installed inside the car, which has sensors to detect drunk driving and driving under the influence of drugs. It even reports to the police or other authorities in case a driver tries to ignite the car in an inebriated state. The device also controls and reports careless driving and over-speeding. The system enables one to stop the car using a text message in case it is stolen or the driver is in an emergency. The solution also has an anti hi-jack function.

Bio:

Stephen Kalyesubula is a Ugandan citizen and a certified computer engineer from Makerere University. He is currently a graduate researcher at iLabs@Mak project - Makerere University with 4 years’ experience in Data science, Robotics, Internet of things, AI and Design thinking. 

He is a founder of Labtech a techie company focusing on developing feasible technologies to address the sustainable development goals. He is also the founder for Youths in Technology and Development a non-profit organization meant to create tech communities of practice where appropriate use of technology leads to sustainable development. He is currently working as ICT officer at USAID-ASSIST project – Uganda.

Stephen has contributed massively in promoting Agriculture 4.O through his research papers and presentations with GODAN, CTA and GFAR. He is currently the GODAN-Champion for 2018 and his focus is on supporting the proactive sharing of open data in agriculture and nutrition.  He has won various awards like: Innovation Expo organized by the Uganda Registration Service Bureau 2017, Online Imagine cup by Microsoft 2017 to mention but a few. He believes Youths understand their issues best; they have the agency, capacity and commitment to develop appropriate solutions for themselves and their communities.

Solution Description:

Urine tests are among the most recommended tests that should be done during Antenatal Care visits, but due to understaffed health facilities in Uganda and Africa at large, delays in receiving test results are the reason expecting mothers overlook and do not have such tests done. Current practices involve using chemical-based reactions like non-biodegradable coloured dip sticks which rely on human observation for diagnosis, but these tests have their limits. Labtech have developed a hardware and mobile application-based solution called UriSAF for effective diagnosis and monitoring of urine changes for expecting mothers in low resource hospital settings. The hardware module called “Uriscope” can diagnose urine samples for a range of issues from diarrhoea to kidney failure to gestational diabetes. UriSAF also integrates a phone application that receives data from the hardware once testing is done, and then processes the data to give a diagnosis whilst also allowing for safe data storage on the Cloud, for future further analysis. The app provides tools that track the fetus’ growth, information about stages of pregnancy, possible weight and height of the fetus, immunization calendar, family planning and nutrition calendar for both mother and baby. UriSAF is a simple sensor based diagnostic tool, so health facilities are better able to carry out several timely tests without patients having to wait in long queues.

Bio:

Dr. Ebinabo Ofrey has been a medical doctor for close to 16 years, a business and blue-ocean strategy consultant for 8 years. He has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Ibadan and an MBA from UCSI University of Malaysia. Dr Ofrey is the CEO and Cofounder of GeroCare Solutions Ltd, a healthcare solution for the elderly and he is also the Managing Director of Barth Consulting Nigeria Ltd.

Solution Description:

The main problem GeroCare is solving for is the provision of regular medical care for the elderly and improving on the current average life expectancy in Nigeria, which is currently only 53 years. Most of the elderly battle deteriorating health which neither the state nor their adult children are able to manage adequately. By leveraging technology GeroCare is able to provide quality, affordable and easily accessible health care for the elderly which ensures they not only live longer but have an improved quality of life. GeroCare is a subscription-based service that entitles the elderly to regular doctor visits in the comfort of their homes. The families of the elderly can follow this care real time from anywhere in the world using the CeroCare mobile application. GeroCare manages the solution through an online hospital with outlets anywhere a GeroCare doctor and his/her GeroCare mobile application is present. There are currently 747 doctors across Nigeria registered on the system. Other members of the medical team (medical consultants, pharmacists, laboratory assistants) can also participate remotely via their own module of the GeroCare application.

Bio:

Stephen is a co-founder of my-medicines.com, a business-to-consumer online medicines' ordering platform with operations in Nigeria and commencing soon in two East African countries. My-medicines.com is part of the health tech and performance improvement aggregator group, Advantage Health Africa. Stephen is a pharmacist, programmer, tech enthusiast and digital solutions designer. He doubles as column editor and creative writer and has developed numerous websites both for companies’ portfolios and for academic institutions. Previously he executed projects for or worked with Livewell Initiative (a public health organisation), HealthPlus Integrative Pharmacy as well as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). 

Solution Description:

While the WHO recommends one pharmacist per 2000 population, in Nigeria there is approximately one pharmacist per 12,000 people and the average doctor-patient ratio is 1:53,333. With a healthcare system that is not capable of handling the ever-increasing population of Africa’s most populous country, it is imperative that solutions other than personnel increase should be employed to leapfrog the gap. Advantage Health Africa drives efficiency and effectiveness of existing health providers and limits reliance on uninformed self-care and drug abuse.

My-medicines.com offers access to a large pool of genuine medicines, devices and health services through crowd-sourcing at anytime or place from reliable sources, while ensuring convenience and availability for the user and safety of the medicines at all times, consequently saving time and improving their health at no extra cost. This in turn gives the pharmacies and health service providers access to a larger market via multiple channels at almost no cost, as a benefit to using a shared platform, which also enables them carry out proper patient care. The platform also comes pre-enabled with a reminder functionality called a pill-reminder to help improve drug compliance of the patients and improve treatment outcomes.

Bio:

David’s great passion is to see people at the bottom of the pyramid enjoying equal rights, privileges and opportunities as everyone else and removing the bottlenecks that are associated with access to information. The personal experience of having been born and raised up near the border towns and coming to reality with the challenges of the traders validated his desire and interest in developing a solution to the challenges of information asymmetry and bureaucracy experienced by traders. David is one of the founders of Sauti Africa, a trade and market information platform that leverages on USSD/SMS mobile technology to provide tailor made and simplified information including border procedures, taxes and tariffs, and documentation required by small businesses to enable them to trade legally, safely and profitably across borders. Prior to starting Sauti David spent 7 years managing research projects for the Busara Center for Behavioural Economics and Innovations for Poverty Action. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Sciences from Moi University, Kenya.

Solution Description:

Sauti is a mobile-based trade & market information platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in cross-border trade in the East African Community. Through the Sauti mobile-based platform, any citizen with a mobile phone can use SMS and USSD to access tailored information relevant to cross border trade such as border procedures, taxes and tariffs, as well as required documentation to be able to trade legally and profitably across borders. Cross-border traders face extremely high costs to find officially sourced information and Sauti offers the user accurate and up to date information on one simple platform which is compatible with even the most basic mobile phone. Sauti’s solution has the potential to make a direct impact on the economic profits of cross-border traders and to enhance business decisions, and empower them with the information they need to dispute bribery.

Bio:

Yvonne Otieno is an Agri-prenuer with 15 years of experience in the international development sector.  Yvonne has a dynamic personality and is a multitalented visionary who brings a diverse set of skills gained from her work in Agroforestry, Health and Business Acceleration Services. She is the founder of the Super Ten Investment Club and a member of the International Union of Conservation of Nature. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Communication and a Masters on Project Management from the University of Nairobi. 

Solution Description:

The agriculture sector is the biggest driver of Kenya’s economy providing income to more than 80% of the population, however, 44% of food products grown by smallholder farmers in Kenya is rejected and thrown away for cosmetic reasons. This wastage results in lost income and creating a negative environmental impact, as well as hefty expenses for smallholder farmers. The social impact of this loss of income is far reaching in that it limits access to education, quality healthcare and improved quality of life for the farmers and their families. Miyonga Fresh Greens provides training to small holder farmers and uses innovative agro-processing technology to create value-added products with high market demand. Miyonga packs and exports the first grade and then processes and re-purposes the surplus and cosmetically unattractive foods into food powder. Processing fresh food into powder increases the shelf life of food from 7 days to 120 days. The aim of the project would also be to adapt the drying facility to conditions in Kenya. Another innovation is the social aspect of the business, that places importance on offering farmers fair price for their low-class produce and market access based on value-addition to produce that that would have otherwise been disposed of.
 

Bio:

Penny is a social worker, a human rights professional and now a social entrepreneur. Currently, Penny is a founder and Chief Executive Officer at Linkages Consulting Ltd., a private social enterprise that helps companies and organisations to deliver on their social missions. Beyond her professional influence and impressive achievements, Penny is a member and current Chairperson of Malaika Women’s Investment Club Ltd in Uganda, a local business club that helps mid-career women professionals to achieve financial freedom through saving and investments. Penny holds a bachelor of arts in social sciences from Makerere University, Kampala (Uganda) and a Masters of Laws in International Human Rights Law from Brunel University, London (UK).

Solution Description:

Agriculture still remains one of Uganda’s dominant sector with huge potential to address the country’s problems of poverty, unemployment and food security. Over 80% of its populations, depend on agriculture for food, shelter, water and income. An estimated 1.8 million were displaced by conflict and moved to different parts of the country looking for food and security.  With its natural favourable soil and climate conditions, agriculture makes for an easier option for the poor and marginalised in rural areas to start business projects within minimum capital. This solution addresses the problem of women and youth who are unable to access and own land as an economic resource. The Community Innovation Programme is about tapping into the imaginative and creative mind of women and youth to come up with innovative projects to address the problem of poverty, youth unemployment and food security in their community. The approach is bottom-up and engages citizens to leverage on their inherent abilities. The solution is modelled on the successful project, run in the Kiryandongo district, and has been developed to challenge and address the dependency syndrome that was created by both government and relief agencies during the over two decade Northern Uganda conflict. The project consists of various components which include agriculture, health, water and sanitations, education and youth programmes, and incorporates microfinancing for sustainable investment.

Bio:

Francis is the CEO for Vakava Africa, his background is computer technology and its applications. He provides the crucial link between business and technology in Vakava. He is responsible for developing Africa use cases, go-to market strategies, relationship and partnerships management and overall business management. Francis takes pride in the shaping and growth of start-ups and medium sized enterprises as this affords him the opportunity to inject fresh ideas to influence the desired shift and impact within the organization. His efforts have supported the delivery of enhanced productivity, innovations & efficiencies leveraging technological expertise at different levels of engagements.

Solution Description:

The blue economy has a lot of potential in the great lakes region which includes the East Africa. In Kenya for example, one of the main challenges that limits potential of this industry is post-harvest losses. In some areas it’s up to 70% due to poor infrastructure. The fishermen use traditional methods to preserve the harvest. This often leaves consumers exposed to diseases and infections. Vakava solutions provides end-to-end, unbreakable cold chain from first mile to last mile, globally. Vakava’s cold chain technology- mainly the QuickCold smart cool boxes – are a disruptive technology that store cold energy in dry ice batteries that do not need to rely on any external power sources. The containers are customizable and can store from 10 to 2000 litres of volume, in addition to being lightweight, portable and solar-powered.

Bio:

Lowell Scarr is currently completing his PhD in Development Economics at Rhodes University. He has worked as a researcher in the Economic Services Unit of the Agricultural Research Council – South Africa’s premier agricultural research body, which has exposed him to both the public and private aspects of investment into the agricultural sector. His work thus far has focussed on natural resource economics, the valuation of public goods, and decision making in public spending. Lowell wants to address two major problems that Africa is facing: food wastage and shortages in the supply of protein - specifically for animal feed.

Solution Description:

Annually, about 30% of food produced ends up going to waste. This represents a massive economic inefficiency, particularly given the high levels of poverty and hunger on the continent. Concurrently, there is a growing shortfall of protein to meet the demands of the growing population and this is particularly evident in protein for animal feed, where the continent finds itself as a net importer. By using the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to consume wasted food (from any point along the supply chain), it is possible to recycle nutrients and produce a high value protein that can be used as an affordable, locally produced, substitute for fish and soya meals. This has the impact of reducing the local price of animal feed - resulting in cheaper protein being supplied to the end consumer. The Nambu solution results in a higher availability of locally produced protein for animal feed, thus enabling the reduction of the reliance on imported soya and other proteins. Simultaneously, food waste that is often regarded as a useless by-product of many agricultural activities, can be put to economic use, promoting the circular economy and boosting sustainability and growth.

Bio:

Atuhaire Sarah Baryaija holds a Masters of Gender Analysis in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Economics. She is the Co-Founder and CFO at AKABOXI and is an expert in gender and finance with over fifteen years in income generation, small and medium enterprises across both agricultural and non-agriculture sectors.

Solution Description:

Rural smallholder farmers’ are often excluded from opening bank accounts or banks to keep their money secure because they do not meet the criteria required for doing so. As a result, farmers often save together as a group in communities and keep this money under their beds. This is very risky and often the money is stolen before it is shared. Akaboxi provides these rural communities with a more secure way of keeping their savings in “boxes” to be managed and monitored through an easy to use Digital Financial Inclusion System - a technology system that is easy to use. The system provides a credit scoring model that enables members in the saving box group to accurately and efficiently assess the credit risk for individual members in each ;boxi’, through the capture of necessary demographic information. The associated individual ID card is embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology used for transactions during saving and borrowing of money. The system is also linked to each member’s mobile phone number to allow money withdrawal from any mobile money outlet in their location. Through partnerships, Akaboxi also enables provision of cheap agricultural inputs, low insurance premiums, and better and modernised trainings in agricultural practices, as well as market access.

Bio:

Damaris Ngugi is a respected leader of creative teams and sales and corporate communications departments. She has successfully conceptualized and orchestrated marketing campaigns that effectively reinforce and build brand images. Damaris is an expert in the technical, conceptual and content development of sales-driving collateral and she also has a proven ability to drive record-high marketing campaign response rates.

Solution Description:

According to the World Bank, by 2030 the commodity market in Africa will be worth an estimated $1 Trillion, however, the sector is currently severely hampered by a lack of efficiency. This lack of efficiency is reinforced by unscrupulous brokers that act as middle men between farmers and processing. As a result, the African agricultural sector faces a number of challenges such as a lack of transparency in the collection of data related to the weights and quality of the commodity that is brought to the processing factories. This data is primarily captured on paper and the farmers do not get paid timeously, making the process tedious and slowing the business investment in commodities. The WeightCAPTURE application is used to manage purchases of goods that can be weighed. Through an Android smartphone and a scale, WeightCAPTURE™ manages the collection and proper documentation of all the activities involved in purchasing commodities such as tea, coffee, milk, macadamia, pulses, and grains, amongst other commodities. The application has also has a storage advantage as all the data is collected and stored to ensure efficient and accurate payments are made to the farmers.
 

Bio:

Frank has a Bsc. Physics (Electronics) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi where he graduated in 2012. He is a passionate technologist and started Khalmax Software Systems initially as a software developing company in 2013. In 2016, he started the Khalmax Robotics project where he began training children as young as eight years in robotics technology. Since then he has established robotic clubs in several schools and has trained over 300 students who have similar passion in robotics and other STEM programmes, Frank is CEO and founder of Khalmax Software Systems (Khalmax Robotics).

Solution Description:

With the increasing global population farmers are increasingly under pressure to produce more food. Unfortunately many African farmers are still stuck to old and manual farming practices thereby limiting crop yield and harvest. Countries in Europe and Asia have started employing the use of robots in farming practices, such as seed sowing and irrigation, which las led to vast improvement in their yield. With the production of affordable robots manufactured from non-degradable materials such as plastic and e-waste, Khalmax plans to manufacture robots capable of handling simple farming practices such as seed planting and irrigation for both small and large scale farmers. Khalmax also empowers the younger generation through training in robotics and engineering, thus enabling them to apply lessons learned in school to creating technology to solve problems. Khalmax believes that all educational curriculum should be made more practical because the foundation of health, agriculture, governance and other areas of society all depend on education.
 

Bio:

Sitotaw has an M.A in Sociology from IGNOU and a First Degree in Education from Bahir Dar University. For many years he worked for Plan International Ethiopia as the Area Coordinator for funded projects of Early Survival and Development of Children, Child Protection from Violence at four woredas/districts, as well as Project Officer for programmes with orphans and vulnerable children, women capacity empowerment, smallholder farmers and unemployed youth. He has experience in sectors such as health, and cross-cutting issues like education and gender.

Solution Description:

Small land owner farmers are unable to use tractors due to the fact that they are expensive, need high maintenance and they lack the skill to operate them. Traditional farming tools are limited in function and lack wheel traction and a mechanical system that drives tools. This makes farming tiresome and unproductive for these farmers. The Anicyctor solution is an animal cycling or pedalling tractor. Animals have powerful legs which have not been exploited properly for many years. This solution has transformed animal pulling tools into animal pedalling tools which mechanically traps the kinetic energy of the animal that is created during walking or moving. The Anicytor then transforms this energy into full rotation of wheels and farming tools like row planting and fertilizer broadcasting. The Anicyctor can be mounted on any animal or human legs.
 

Bio:

Victor’s life has always about seeing the world from multiple perspectives. After time spent in Canada and the UK, and despite job offers from numerous parts of the world, he chose to work in Nigeria and become a part of the revolution to improve Nigeria. During his work at KPMG, he came across a gap in the market: the problem of fresh fruits and vegetable access for people that live in the cities. From that realisation, he has been able to start a successful business which as part of its solution incorporates SDG’s of Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) and Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12). Victor is a Tony Elumelu Alumni (2015) and a Leap Africa Social Innovator Programme Alumni (2018), amongst other awards.

Solution Description:

From the producer end, The Ojoro Kitchen aims to solve the problem of access to markets. By partnering with farmers through providing them with inputs and training, Ojoro is able to ensure that farmers grow the best produce, under the best conditions and ensure that their goods are sold and not wasted after harvest. From the consumer end, Ojoro solves the problem of access to fresh, healthy, vegetables at most convenience. Because the rural producing areas are far away from the consuming city areas there is a large disconnect in the farm to table chain which has a negative impact on price, location and availability of produce. The Ojoro Kitchen’s 'the Chopped range' features three products: Chopped Ginger, Chopped Garlic and Chopped Peppers. The unique features of this range is in the processing, finished product and product preservation. Each products contain white wine vinegar (an organic preservative) and the vegetable, nothing else. Ojoro’s products stay fresh for at least a year, and ensure longer shelf-life for retail, thus reducing wastage.

Bio:

Donatus N. Njoroge is a Master of Science student in Applied Analytical Chemistry from Kenyatta University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Nairobi. He is currently Lead Consultant foe Anti-Poverty Business Development International, an American non-profit. In 2017, he was awarded the East Africa Post-Harvest Technologies award.

Solution Description:

The United Nations predicts that the world population will be about 9 billion by the year 2050. By then, Africa’s population is expected to double from the current 1.2 billion to 2.5 billion. Naturally, this population growth will carry along a growing demand for food. The need for increased food production cannot, therefore, be gainsaid. Gradually, there will be no room for postharvest losses. Insect pests account for 30%–40% of the loss especially in grains. Control mainly based on use of commercially produced synthetic pesticides. Smallholder farmers can’t afford the commercially produced synthetic pesticides.

The solution is a plant-derived bio-pesticide that helps curb post-harvest losses of maize and other grains. The product is both a repellent and toxic to all major post-harvest pests. The product is formulated from essential oils of different plant species that are available locally. Pest Mortality is noticeable within five minutes of fumigation while repellence is immediate. It helps reduce pest infestation and take control of health issues associated with synthetic pesticide. There are no synthetic chemical additives to the formulation. The innovation is a major breakthrough with regards to integrated pest management by being economically viable, has social acceptability and poses no risk to human health and the environment.

Bio:

Nzigamasabo Léonidas has eight years experience working directly with communities in social entrepreneurship, education and women empowerment. He is currently the Country Representative of World Merit to promote UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through this work he has initiated and coordinated the project Social Initiatives Support supported by US Embassy in Burundi. Nzigamasabo is skilled in the training of the reduction of stigmatization for older women in ICT, citizenship responsibility, conflict resolution, Design Thinking and Social Entrepreneurship. He holds a Bac+4 in electromechanical sciences from High Institute of Development and graduated in Electromechanical Sciences in Industrial Engineering from the Technical School of Bubanza from Burundi. He is also a selected UN Global Talent 2018 for the UNLEASH SDG Innovation Lab Programme.

Solution Description:

This solution is motivated by the necessity to combat extreme hunger and malnutrition in the East African Community through fiscally sound and sustainable interventions. One of the primary causes of food insecurity in both Burundi and parts of Tanzania is the region’s lack of fertile farmland and a consequently unproductive agriculture sector. Much of the land in Burundi, as well as the western parts of its neighbour Tanzania, is infertile, leaving families with little viable land for producing food. Research suggests that Burundi is among the countries most affected by malnutrition.

The Soy Bean Project targets soja as the way to assist efforts to eliminate this deficiency and tackle the hunger challenge. It is based on two objectives 1) the provision of training on agriculture modifications, and in particular, the cultivation of soja. Given Burundi’s limited soil quality and the susceptibility of its agriculture sector to the effects of climate change, helps to halt inefficient cultivation techniques that further erode soil quality and reduce the long term viability of the land. In addition, the training also shows farmers how to convert their surpluses into secondary products that may then be sold to urban markets in both Burundi and Tanzania. And 2) to cultivate the development of agro-startups and profitable value chains rooted in the production of soja and the development and sale of its many by-products.

Bio:

Biddemu Mwotta was raised in Kamwokya, a city suburb in Kampala; a ghetto characterized by poverty, youth unemployment, drug abuse among other societal mishaps. At the age of 20, he harnessed social responsibility, he started up Tree Adoption Uganda (TAU); a non-government organization aiming at alleviating poverty from society and mitigating the vagaries of climate change. In 2016, he started up AgroDuuka; a robust GSM supported agricultural produce supply chain management software connecting rural farmers to markets. He has been awarded a number of prestigious accolades for his work, including the Common Wealth Youth Forum in Malta (2015), Ashoka Emerging Innovator (2015) and winner of Winner of the Internet Society's 25 under 25 Awards held in Los Angeles in 2017. He is a 2018 Queen’s Young Leader and has represented Uganda in the African Youth Forum in Ibadan, Nigeria in 2016 and the Caux Dialogue on Peace, Governance, Land and Security in Switzerland in the same year.

Solution Description:

AgroDuuka was established in 2016 and offers fairer agricultural trade transactions between the buyers and farmers. The solution is a robust GSM supported agricultural produce supply chain management software that is directly connecting smallholder rural farmers to buyers in the market at a low cost via SMS, before and after harvest. To date, AgroDuuka is being used by over 20 000 farmers enabling them get the right value for their farm produce. AgroDuuka employees task themselves with a manual registration process of farmers and their produce during one on one interactions which increases their legitimacy on the Farmers’ side. The Marketing Officer interacts with individuals who own stalls and run markets and shops across Kampala, thus providing ample market for the farm produce.

Bio:

Paul Sheppard is a Co-Founder at Future Farms. After starting Halon Energy in 2015 he has become heavily involved in the agricultural sector though Hydroponic Farming. Paul focuses intently on applications of his work to the African content, this as seen through Halon Energy’s portable solar powered battery bank in rural communities. He is extremely passionate about the social circumstances in Africa and strives, through ethical and sustainable business, to contribute toward development in Africa. He sees this made possible through a massive shift in skills transfer as well as an efficient platform of executing projects and implementing plans.

Solution Description:

Water availability is the next big crisis. According to World Bank, approximately 70% of our available fresh water is used for agricultural produce in Africa. Furthermore, conventional agricultural methods see a large amount of water that is contaminated with fertilizers, pesticides and other harmful chemicals that goes directly into the soils, through to water tables and into rivers. Employment and land and food are rampant challenges across the African continent.

Future Farms is a solution that can produce up to 40 plants per square meter (sqm), which is up to 10 times more than conventional farming methods. Not only does the Future Farms solution produce more plants per sqm, but the yields are larger and faster. This hydroponic farming solution directly addresses food security, water usage, and healthcare and job creation. This innovation has developed a way to produce large yields of fresh produce using 70% less land space, 90% less water and 95% less chemical inputs than conventional farming methods. The solution has decreased yield cycle times and increased yield volumes, as well as included high-nutrition produce which directly helps to address severe malnutrition.

Bio:

During Economics studies with a Dutch university Hans pursued an opportunity of doing a 6 month practical internship with the Innovation department of Deloitte in South Africa. Throughout the years Hans has worked in a wide range of different industries and management positions in South Africa, as well as Ghana. He currently works as the Africa Head of Sales for Globaltrack, a position enabling him to travel the African continent extensively and to take charge of Globaltrack’s different African offices. Hans loves interacting with different cultures, building bridges and building sustainable entities throughout the continent.

Solution Description:

Vehicle transportation continues as the main mode of commodity transport in Africa, but it is an expensive and intensive process to manage. Globaltrack aims to make transportation cheaper, through its supply chain model, and addresses costly energy and fuel challenges by managing driving behavior and tackling fuel fraud.

Globaltrack is a cross-border vehicle tracking solution operating within the SADC region, with presence in South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius and Nigeria, as well as distributors in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Data analytics allows for meaningful insights and foresights to increase efficiency and save costs. Recent innovations help monitor transit times along corridors, waiting times at border posts and ports, as well as monitoring different choke points in regional transport corridors. Through this data businesses can make effective decisions on were to invest the time and money to improve the transporters operating environment. Satellite tracking and cloud-based fleet management software also gather data for intelligent decision making for efficiency.

Bio:

Roy Ombatti has a Mechanical Engineering background and has been involved in numerous projects and honed his skills as a maker and innovator. Roy is passionate about technology, making and innovation especially when geared towards social impact and development. He is a Stanford Fablearn Fellow and founded the Fablab Robotics Outreach Programme. Roy is also the lead organiser of IDDS 2018 happening in Kenya in July and is currently the founder and CEO of AB3D (African Born 3D Printing), a hardware social enterprise that is a one-stop-shop for all things 3D printing. ABCD allows for the lowering of barriers of access to 3D printing by creating easy and affordable access through the local manufacture of 3D printers from recycled electronic waste parts. Roy has been named one of Impact Design Hub's Top 40 Under 40 awardees.

Solution Description:

AB3D creates easy and affordable access to 3D printing to change lives and empower communities to create their own solutions to problems. ABCD uses recycled electronic waste parts and other locally available materials to create products for manufacturing, education, health, artisanry. ABCD believes that applying this ‘new age’ technology to solve Africa’s most complex problems is an opportunity for innovation to thrive on the continent.

Bio:

Akin-Awokoya Emmanuel is the Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of InvestXD. His experience includes EUS Engineer for MTN Nigeria where he set up the command centre for SIM registration and developed a system to manage MTN access equipment. While in Nigeria, he also helped to redesign a large hospital website and increase hospital Internet presence that led to a 200% increase in social media audience reach for the hospital in the space of just two months.

Solution Description:

Young professionals find the investment process long and tedious and there is no efficient way to make easy payment into your investment account in Africa. InvestXD is an online tool that provides access to investment products, consumer-friendly information, and seamless payment options. The team has designed a learning platform into bit-size information that helps users to learn about investing at their own pace and to grade, share and apply their learning experience on the platform. The platform also has an easy to use ‘know your customer’ form that assists users to easily invest in banks across Africa.

Bio:

Mountaga Keita is a Guinean national and ex-banker, formerly based in Washington and now in Conakry. Mr. Keita was educated in the US, holding two graduate degrees - Master of Science in Contract Management and Procurement and a Master of Business Administration. He has more than 9 years’ experience in advising investors concerning investment-related matters, with much of his work involving investments, negotiations and management. Mr Keita is the Founder & CEO of Tulip Industries and is skilled in Banking, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Data Analysis, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and team leadership. He has strong entrepreneurship skills with Procurement & Contracts skills and a Certification focused in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from Harvard Law School.

Solution Description:

Tulip Industries “The kiosk” is an interactive, multi-functional and multidimensional platform offering variable geometry digital solutions, recreating part of our economy ecosystem. The terminal offers one of the most complete digital ecosystems of the African continent, responding to major needs of both private and public organisations. The large public can now access the web and other multimedia contents in remote areas, through WiFi and 3 or 4G connectivity. The terminal can run entirely on green energy and store enough power to run the kiosk for over 48 hours at a time. Each kiosk is part of a virtually secured network, monitored remotely to reduce onsite maintenance, disruptions and costs to local operators. The multimedia software, with local dialects in images and audio, allow the public to access and understand digital contents offered by the kiosks' operators.

Bio:

Bola Lawal is a Social Entrepreneur and co-founder of ScholarX due to his passion for human capital development in Africa through increased access. ScholarX was recently nominated by Apps Africa as Best App in West Africa, and it received an award for innovation and impact at the African Diaspora Investment Symposium in Silicon Valley. Prior to ScholarX, Bola worked as a Business Analyst with companies such as ConocoPhillips, Accenture and Shell, where he served as a project manager on multiple million-dollar IT system implementation projects. He is a 2018 African Changemakers Fellow and has been featured as a Speaker at Africa focused Tech/Entrepreneurship events in Europe, Africa and the United States.  Bola graduated from University of Houston with a degree in accounting and is currently enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Programme in Social Impact strategy.

Solution Description:

ScholarX aims to solve the access to education problem in Africa, caused by poverty and other social economic inequalities. The youth population of Nigeria, and Africa in general, is growing rapidly, while opportunities to access quality education are not keeping pace. ScholarX is a social impact start-up that focuses on Education Financing to help young Africans access quality education through Scholarships, Crowdfunding (Village) and E-Learning. Essentially, they are the opportunity bridge that connects young people with opportunities both home and abroad. After downloading the App from Google Play store or iTunes, users create an account using valid email address or phone number, and then search their education opportunity by the following parameters: State, Faculty, College, School and/or CGPA/Level. The app then automatically provides the list of scholarships that matches the user’s qualification.

Bio:

Yaya is a solution architect with experience in executive operation management. He is passionate about open innovation and the digital strategy of companies. Yaya has graduated with a Master of Business Administration in Operational Marketing and has studied a Business Management Degree at ISC Paris, France.

Solution Description:

Many African countries generate tons of plastic waste annually but it is estimated that only 2% of this is of high enough quality to be utilised by the growing number of recycling companies across the continent. This is partly due to the demand for clean recycled plastics while most of the waste is “dirty” and therefore not suitable for recycling. The lack of waste management has huge health consequences such as cholera and malaria. Coliba addresses the market gap and health problems by providing an online mobile platform and logistics which helps users (households and organisations) to separate their waste, know the value of the generated waste at every point in time, schedule and request a pick up and have the waste collected at the users’ homes and/or offices. Coliba focuses on plastic and metal waste materials and integrates women waste pickers in the delivery of its services. Coliba currently has operations in Accra (Ghana) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast).

Bio:

Oluwatomi Ayorinde is a results-driven, practical software engineer with extensive experience in analysis, design and development of Business Information Systems. Tomi has proven ability to contribute, lead and motivate teams to ensure success in any environment. His main interests are in solving business problems and challenges with proven technical and technology skills and this has driven his career from desktop client software development to SAP business process consulting in development, NW Portal, Mobility and Analytics. Tomi also has a vast experience across different data-entry software and has worked on ODK, Quantum, QUINPUT, SPSS, QDENT and Microsoft Power BI.

Solution Description:

Unlike developed countries, the infrastructure and connectivity to support marketing campaigns in developing countries are almost non-existent. Underserved populations live in disconnected communities accessed by mostly last mile services. Companies are realizing that they need a ground force to help them map out the true realities for better decision making. The present solutions to these problems are not all inclusive. It takes months to hire, train and on-board the right manpower to carry out marketing campaigns, research and surveys in just one community. These processes also depend on paper-based solutions to collect offline data mostly due to poor or unavailable internet connection in those locations. The Mobile Forms solution ensures that these loopholes are avoided and data is accurate, verifiable and real time. Clients specify their requirements and a network of field agents in the specified location, will execute tasks and record and submit data, through the power of our mobile app technology. These tasks are usually in the form of pictures, videos, questionnaires and location verification. In exchange for the data, the field agents get paid in cash and sometimes a bonus top up on their mobile phones. With this solution, the information collated is safe, and received on a central dashboard 20 times faster than the paper forms previously used to collate data.

Bio:

As an education activist, Doreen strives to ensure more kids in Africa have access to quality education. She has expertise in education technology, fun learning and entrepreneurship. Doreen has an MBA and BS in International Business and Economics from Liberty University and has worked at the Int’l Justice Mission in Washington DC, Wells Fargo and Smile for Africa in Zimbabwe. She was named “Entrepreneur of the Year in Education” by WIA and is also a Global Shaper. She is currently Chief Operations Officer at Ubongo, a social enterprise that creates edutainment content for learners in Africa. She is instrumental in the growth of the organisation, innovating, and finding ways to continually deliver fun learning to over 7.1 million families in East Africa. Doreen plays a hand-on role in the Ubongo Kids Cartoon by playing the English voice of the playful monkey, Ngedere.

Solution Description:

There is an education crisis in Africa, and most of the 440 million kids on the continent stand to miss out on the opportunity for a quality education. School systems are struggling, and families have little access to informal learning resources for their children to use outside of school. In Tanzania, 55% of 10 to 16-year olds fail baseline math and reading tests set for 8-year-olds. The majority of children do not attend pre-school during the critical years of cognitive development, and over half of primary students do not own a single text book. Schools are overcrowded, and the system is rote and rigid, leaving kids discouraged and unmotivated to learn. Ubongo brings kids a fun new way to learn, on the technology that they already have. By leveraging the reach of mass media, the stickiness of stories, animation and music, and the interactivity of mobile technology, this solution aims to bring millions of kids across Africa fun learning at extremely low cost. The multi-platform edutainment reaches millions of kids weekly on TV, radio, mobile and web. The solution is positioned to grow with the audience, by bringing new and deeper learning experiences as they gain access to new technologies.