These are the 3 winners of SA’s Total Startupper Challenge

In 2015, petro-chemical giant Total AMO jumped on the entrepreneurial bandwagon with its “STARTUPER OF THE YEAR BY TOTAL” campaign. Running in countries across countries in the Africa and Middle East region, the competition sought to help young entrepreneurs get their ventures off the ground, with a R1.2-million prize pool on offer in South Africa. Three companies emerged out of the 10 finalists to this competition. They are:

Nkazimulo Applied Sciences, Kwa-Zulu Natal

Bathabile and Roderick Mpofu entered their startup, Nkazimulo Applied Sciences, which is a company that assists high school learners with gaining a closer relationship with science concepts. Nkazimulo Applied Sciences creates chemistry kits with 52 different experiments for safe use within a home environment. This initiative helps science learners apply their minds to sciences within everyday life situations and ensures the experiments link back to the high school curriculum.

ConnectMed, Gauteng

Oyena Zwelijongile Gwebityala, Melissa McCoy, Smisosenkosi Skosana and Sekeitto Allan-Roy are the co-founders of ConnectMed, which is an online telemedicine platform designed to suite African conditions and the current medical and technological landscape of the continent.
The main function of ConnectMed is to connect certified doctors with those in need through; video, text and machine learning-based tools. The offering is low cost and high quality and is accessible to those in need (a fingertip away from solid, professional advice).

Themba Sehawu is a product developer who has come up with a fruit picking machine that allows people to pick fruit without having to elevate themselves. This innovative machine fulfils the function of picking, pruning and placing – all at one go. This agricultural tool aims to increase safety and efficiency when harvesting for the large agriculture sector in South Africa.