AIF reveals names of 10 shortlisted for $100,000 Innovation Prize for Africa

The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced the top 10 nominees for next month’s 2017 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), which will take place in Accra, Ghana.

The AIF on Thursday announced the names of innovators from nine African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

They include innovative solutions addressing challenges in agriculture value chain, health care, energy, communications, service industries as well as surveillance using drone technology.

Now celebrating its sixth year under the theme “African Innovation: Investing in Prosperity”, the IPA — which will be awarded on 18 July  — offers a grand prize of $100,000, as well as a runner up prize of $25,000 and a special prize for social impact of $25,000.

The IPA 2017 edition witnessed a record number of entries from over 2,500 innovators across 48 African countries. Applicants underwent a rigorous selection process by a renowned panel of judges which included corporates, academia, technology and scientific experts representing top African innovation influencers.

‘Inspiring stories remind us that African-led solutions are answer to Africa’s growth, prosperity’

AIF chairman Walter Fust said this year’s nominees for the first time included innovators from the DRC, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

“The inspiring stories of these nominees remind us that innovation and African-led solutions are indeed the answer to Africa’s growth and prosperity.” said Fust.

The 10 nominees are:

• Peris Bosire, Kenya with FarmDrive — a fintech company that has developed a mobile phone based app that collects data and provides an alternative risk assessment model for smallholder farmers.
• Nokwethu Khojane, South Africa with Lakheni — which seeks to bring low-income households into buying-groups in order to negotiate favourable discounts for goods and services supplied to these households.
• Omolabake Adenle, Nigeria — with voice recognition and speech synthesis software for African languages.
• Nzola Swasisa, Democratic Republic of Congo with Lokole — a device that enables affordable access to efficient email communication anywhere with cellular coverage.
• Badr Idriss, Morocco with Atlan Space — which develops software technology that is then deployed to manage the operations of drones.
• Aly El-Shafei, Egypt — with his smart electro-mechanical actuator journal integrated bearing “Semajib” which improves turbine performance.
• Dougbeh-Chris Nyan, Liberia with Only One Test — a rapid diagnostic test.
• Olanisun Olufemi Adewole, Nigeria with Sweat TB Test — a non-invasive rapid skin test to detect tuberculosis.
• Gift Gana, Zimbabwe with Dr CADx — a software solution that helps doctors and health care workers diagnose medical images more accurately.
• Philippa Ngaju Makobore, Uganda — with an electronically controlled gravity feed infusion set (ECGF) — a medical device designed to accurately administer intravenous fluids and drugs by controlling the rate of fluid flow based on feedback from a drop sensor.

The foundation has supported past winners and nominees with about $1-million, while the exposure generated by the award has seen past winners go on to secure over $30-million in investments.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to work with our partners to ensure the innovations of the 10 nominees will be available to African markets and beyond. We invite you to join us and unlock the potential of African innovators, starting by investing in these 10 nominees.” said IPA Director Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl.

For more details on the 10 nominees, their innovations and related images visit http://innovationprizeforafrica.org/index.html#nominees