PUBLIC EVENT
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Watch the 2024 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation livestream now.
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is Africa’s biggest prize dedicated to engineering innovation. The Prize awards commercialisation support to African innovators developing scalable engineering solutions to local challenges. These innovations show the importance of engineering in improving quality of life and economic development. This year marks 10 years of driving African innovation.
Ory Okolloh
Ory is currently a partner at Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, a pan-African focused venture capital firm that backs exceptional founders in and from Africa. Previously, Ory was the managing director of Omidyar Network Africa. Currently, she serves on the board of directors of several organisations including Safaricom, Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, the East African Breweries Limited, Deloitte Africa, the Board of Trustees of the Van Leer Group, the Adecco Group Foundation, and is the Chair of the Stanbic Bank Kenya Foundation. Prior to this, Ory was Google’s policy and strategy manager for Africa and a co-founder of Ushahidi. Ory holds a Juris Doctor (JD) from Harvard Law School and a BA (Bachelor of Arts) in political science from the University of Pittsburgh.
Maina Chege - Host
Maina Chege is an accomplished business journalist and media manager with over 15 years of experience in mainstream media. As the founder director of Frontlite Media, Maina oversees production and media consultancy services, notably managing media communication for the Nairobi Securities Exchange. He is also the host of "The Trading Bell Show" on KTN News, a premium programme featuring interviews with top CEOs and industry leaders. He is a dedicated educator, serving as a part-time lecturer and trainer at institutions such as Riara University and the Certified Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). He is also the lead Business Communications and Soft Skills Trainer at Power Learn Project, impacting five African countries. Committed to youth development, Maina founded the Debate Circle, a programme that has been enriching young leaders in Kenya with critical thinking and communication skills for over 13 years.
Philip Thigo - Guest of Honour
Philip Thigo MBS is a technology and public policy expert. He was recognised by Apolitical as one of the World's 100 most influential people in digital government in 2018 and by Africa Com as one of Africa's Top 100 most influential African leaders in technology and telecommunications in 2023 under government and international organisations. Philip was recently appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General into his High-Level Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence (HLAB). On 12 December 2023 at Kenya’s 60th Independence Day Anniversary, he was awarded a Presidential Commendation - Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS), for his distinguished service to the country.
Malcolm Brinded CBE FREng
Malcolm Brinded CBE FREng is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, former Chair of EngineeringUK and former President of the Energy Institute. Malcolm has served as a UK Prime Minister’s Business Ambassador, on the China Council for Environment and Development, and as a Trustee of the International Business Leaders Forum. Until 2017, he was Chair of the Shell Foundation, focusing on access to renewable energy in India and Africa. He was previously a Board member of Shell, BHP, CH2M and Network Rail. Today he invests in and supports startups. Malcolm was awarded a CBE in 2002.
Dr Ibilola Amao
Dr Ibilola Amao is the Principal Consultant of Lonadek Global Services, a woman-owned, ISO:9001:2015 certified firm of consultants, providing engineering technology and innovation solutions. Lonadek is focused on deploying talent and state-of-the-art technology for operational excellence. Dr Amao focuses on STEM and innovation in energy, power, infrastructure, oil, gas and agriculture. Her passion is to empower, mentor and coach women and youth for positive transformation. She is a committed and dynamic change agent who established Lonadek in 1991, the Vision 2020: Youth Empowerment and Restoration Initiative in 2006, and the Cedar STEM and entrepreneurship hub in 2008.
Dr John Lazar CBE FREng
John Lazar is co-founder and general partner at Enza Capital, and Chair of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. In 2019, with two partners he co-launched Enza Capital which backs founders and teams using technology to solve large and meaningful problems across Africa. Headquartered in Nairobi, Enza has invested in more than 30 African tech companies to date. John sits on the board of four of Enza’s portfolio companies. As well as being a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, he is also a Fellow of BCS, the UK’s chartered institute for IT. He is chair of the Academy’s Enterprise Committee which oversees the activities of its Enterprise Hub, supporting start-ups and scale-ups across the UK. For the past eight years, he has also been a judge and mentor on the Academy’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, which backs 15-20 early-stage African engineering companies annually. He has also spent many years working on tech-related non-profit initiatives in Africa, especially building “digital blacksmiths” and maker labs. John has also been an active angel investor and technology start-up mentor in the UK and Africa, with more than 40 individual pre-seed/seed investments. In 2016, he stepped down as Chairman and CEO of Metaswitch Networks. He joined the company in 1987 as a software engineer and became Chief Executive Officer, and then Chairman, as the company established its leadership in cloud communications software. Metaswitch was acquired by Microsoft in 2020. He graduated from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar with an M.Sc in Computation and a D.Phil in History. He was awarded a CBE for services to engineering in 2016.
Sheena Raikundalia - guest judge
Sheena Raikundalia has over 16 years of experience in the legal, financial services and impact investment sectors in Europe and Africa and over seven years board experience. She is currently working as the Chief Growth Officer with Kuza One, an agri-tech, digitising the agriculture value chain through its tech platform and network of on the ground rural agri-tech entrepreneurs. Prior to this she worked with the British Government in Kenya as the country director of the UK-Kenya Tech Hub. She has held non-executive director positions in the UK and in Kenya in institutions such as schools, SMEs, MFIs, co-chaired the ICT Donor Group in Kenya and chairs the Resource and Partnership Committee Board at the Kenya National Innovation Agency, which sits under the Ministry of Youth. She has had a diverse career, with a stint as a solicitor in London to a senior advisor in Kenya to an impact investing group, where she provided strategic advisory services to financial institutions, start[1]ups, corporations, development agencies and NGOs across the African market. She is a UK qualified solicitor with a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Bristol and an MBA from the Lord Ashcroft International Business School.
Sewu-Steve Tawia
Sewu-Steve Tawia is a Ghanaian-French investment and development finance professional with over 20 years of experience in development finance, strategy consulting, angel investing and venture capital funds in Europe and Africa. He is currently General Partner at Jaza Rift Ventures, a $5 million seed fund backing East to West Africa-focused healthtech, medtech and biotech startups, developed in partnership with Villgro Africa. Through Asime Ventures, he’s also a prolific angel investor with a track record across the continent in fintech, healthtech, e-commerce, insuretech, retailtech, renewable energy and edtech. A venture capital, private equity and impact investing expert, he is also a strong advocate of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. He further supports the development of Africa’s investment ecosystem through engagements as an ANDE Investment Management Trainer, a coach and mentor with the African Angel Academy, a co-Founder of Accra Angels Network, and through involvement in the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.
Over the last eight months, the Royal Academy of Engineering has provided 16 talented entrepreneurs from across Africa with training, mentoring, and support to turn their engineering innovations into scalable businesses that can transform the continent.
For the final event in their programme, you’re invited to join us in a night of celebration as the innovators pitch their work to our panel of expert judges. At the culmination of the night, three finalists will be awarded with £15,000 each, while judges select one winner to receive £50,000 to further their work. Plus, you’ll get the opportunity to vote for the pitch with the biggest impact – with the audience choice taking home a £5,000 ‘One-to-Watch’ award.
As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, take part in this landmark event to connect with the innovators, investors, and other distinguished guests including 80 alumni from a decade of the prize. Each is having a huge impact on their community with local solutions to local challenges; together, the network is transforming Africa.
The 2024 Africa Prize finalists are:
Rory Assandey, Côte d'Ivoire. Rory and his team developed La Ruche Health, which connects communities to vital health information, advice, and services through “Kiko”, an AI chatbot tool available on WhatsApp and mobile apps, and a digital backend solution to streamline documentation, billing, and data sharing for practitioners. Kiko serves as the patient’s initial point of contact, offering personalised screening and facilitating appointments with qualified healthcare professionals.
Esther Kimani, Kenya. Esther and her team developed Early Crop Pest and Disease Detection Device, a solar-powered tool utilising AI and machine learning-enabled cameras to swiftly detect and identify agricultural pests and diseases, reducing crop losses for smallholder farmers by up to 30% while increasing yields by as much as 40%. Esther's innovation not only provides real-time alerts within five seconds of an infestation, but also alerts government agricultural officers to the presence of diseases or pests, contributing to broader agricultural management efforts.
Kevin Maina, Kenya. Kevin and this team developed Eco Tiles, an environmentally friendly roofing material made from recycled plastic. Stronger and lighter than clay or concrete tiles, the innovation is a dual solution to plastic pollution and high building costs. They work with 500 informal waste collectors and have a production rate of 1,500 tiles daily, meaning each tile is pressed in a minute. Half a million Eco Tiles have been used to date in the construction of 348 houses.
Martin Tumusiime, Uganda. Martin and his team developed Yo-Waste to address Uganda's mounting waste crisis. Yo-Waste is a location-based mobile application that connects homes and businesses to independent agents for efficient on-demand rubbish collection and disposal. It has GPS location technology to pinpoint collection points, which overcomes the challenge of people not having official addresses in informal residential areas. Yo-Waste currently serves over 1,500 customers, with a goal to reach 20,000 users by 2026.
The shortlist for One to Watch are:
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