Four of Africa’s most promising inventions have made it to the finals of the first Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.
Software from Kenya allows users to swap airtime between carriers or for cash. A fence-mounted warning system from South Africa prevents stock theft and poaching. A Tanzanian innovator designs bespoke Nanofilters for communities to get cheap, clean drinking water, and a precision fertiliser applicator from Zambia helps small-scale farmers work faster and more efficiently. Following an open, competitive, application process which saw entries from 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, 12 African entrepreneurs were chosen to receive a package of six months of business training and mentoring from the Academy. The four finalists showing the greatest promise have now been chosen, and are in with a chance to become the overall winner.
One of these four engineering innovations from sub-Saharan Africa will win £25 000 when the first Africa Prize winner is announced in Cape Town on 1 June 2015, with £10 000 for each runner-up. All four finalists must present their innovations to judges at the ceremony before a winner is selected.
The Africa Prize is an initiative of the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), with support from the Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund, Consolidated Contractors Company, ConocoPhillips and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.The finalists are:
- Dr Askwar Hilonga from Tanzania for his low-cost sustainable water filtration system
- Ernst Pretorius from South Africa for a fence-mounted security system
- Musenga Silwawa and team from Zambia for his spot fertiliser applicator
- Samuel Wangui and team from Kenya for Chura, a SIM-card-swapping service.
