Johann Botha Photographer
Two Nigerian innovators have been shortlisted for the 2020 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, established by the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering, which recognizes daring African innovators who are developing scalable engineering solutions to challenges in their local communities. The 16-strong shortlist was announced on Thursday in Cape Town, South Africa.
Aisha Raheem’s Farmz2U is a software platform that helps farmers and families prevent food waste and enhance nutrition, while Victor Boyle-Komolafe’s Garbage In Value Out (GIVO) automates and digitizes the collection, processing and sale of recyclable materials.
Ms Raheem and Mr Boyle-Komolafe hope to follow in the footsteps of Godwin Benson, whose education innovation, Tuteria, won the 2017 Africa Prize and £25,000.
This year’s shortlist includes the creators of a smart library on wheels, a low-cost digital microscope to speed up cervical cancer diagnosis, bamboo bicycles made from recycled parts, and two innovations made from invasive water hyacinth plants: an animal feed and a cooking fuel.
The 2020 shortlist represents six countries, including, for the first time, Malawi. Six of the 16-strong shortlist are female innovators.
Launched by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014, the annual Africa Prize awards crucial commercialization support to the innovators who are transforming their local communities. The Prize has a track record of identifying engineering entrepreneurs with significant potential, endorsing those who, with the support of the Prize, have gone on to achieve greater commercial success and social impact.
Alumni of the Prize are projected to impact over three million lives in the next five years and have already created over 1,500 jobs and raised more than $14 million in grants and equity.
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