The Africa’s Youth Energy Innovator award was initiated by the prestigious African Energy Indaba in order to encourage and support Youth Energy Innovators. The Top five African Energy innovators presented their products to a panel of Energy experts and were further assessed in detailed Q&A sessions. The products were evaluated for Energy security, Environmental sustainability, Energy equity and Job creation. Notwithstanding all these aspects, the potential target group was gauged and the unique benefit in utilising the various products were also some of the pertinent areas considered by an esteemed panel of judges. The five nominee innovators will be exhibiting their creations and energy solutions for delegates and other interested stakeholders at the African Energy Indaba Exhibition on the 19th and 20th of February, 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre. This forum will enable the Innovators to present their creative solutions with the intention to impact, empower and transform the lives dof the average African, by upgrading basic living conditions and potentially meeting large scale energy requirements, through practical and innovative energy concepts.
The final 5 nominees are:
CHIFUNGU SAMAZAKA
Co-founder
Green Malasha and Recyclebot
Chifungu Samazaka is the co-founder at Green Malasha, a renewable energy venture, where he leads the design and development of peer-to-peer gas micro-grid systems, with the mission to dramatically increase access to affordable, reliable and modern cooking fuel in African communities, while providing a more convenient and environmentally responsible charcoal alternative. Chifungu is also the co-founder of Recyclebot, a peer-to-peer waste recycling platform, which helps households, companies and communities extract value from solid waste at the source rather than from landfills. He has spent the majority of his career in the Software as a Service (SaaS) and mobile applications industries, gaining experience in areas such as UX, UI, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and both front- and back-end web development.
‘Solving Africa’s waste and energy challenges through code.’
VICTORIA HENRY NGAYAMGUNDA
CEO: Alpech Africa
Victoria is a young social impact entrepreneur, who is passionate about life, people and our environment. She is both a recycler and staunch advocate for sustainable development, green economy and climate action. Victoria decided to contribute towards energy solutions in Africa by investing in science and technology, and co-founding Alpech Africa, for which she is current CEO. Alpech Africa deals with energy recovery from biomass and agriculture waste to make charcoal briquettes as alternative, affordable and clean energy for cooking. Victoria holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science and Management.
BONGAJUM LESLEY NDZI
Founder
Bonga Power Bike
When Bongajum first entered the world of business, he founded Bonga Juice bar. One of the recurring problems he encountered was frequent power cuts, negatively impacting sales and the freshness of the fruits and vegetables he used to make his juices. At the same time, Bongajum became aware of his own unhealthy lifestyle (and weight) and began exercising regularly. During one spinning class, he realised he could convert the mechanical energy from pedaling into electricity. He successfully built a working prototype using abandoned car, motorcycle and bicycle parts from around his neighbourhood. The Bonga Power Bike was a finalist at the latest African Entrepreneurship Awards. He has won the NEXT GEN in the Franchising Global Competition, and the GAIA AgTech Innovation Challenge.
HASHIM MUTANJE
Co-founder
SolarPipo
Hashim is co-founder of SolarPipo, a premier energy demand data aggregation platform, collecting energy demand data and sales leads of small businesses and communities in off-grid areas in Uganda.
His innovation supports energy solutions providers, such as solar companies, to access qualified leads and reliable data on rural communities and small businesses to scale energy access through provision of standalone systems and mini-grid solutions. SolarPipo is one of Rockstart Smart Energy’s start-ups, registered in the Netherlands. SolarPipo has won a USADF Award, was runner-up at SUSTECH4Africa 2018, and is Energy Globe Award winner for Uganda, and a World Award nominee. Hashim studied information technology (IT), and his work in energy has been recognised by ANSOLE, UNLEASH, YALI and D-Prize.