Top five African youth innovators nominated for energy award

The African Energy Indaba 2019 platform has released the names of the Top 5 nominees for Africa’s Youth Energy Innovator award. 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 19^th and 20^th 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 of 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 Bongajum Lesley Ndzi, a 32-year-old Cameroonian living in Senegal, who is endeavouring to bring light to students who need to study in the evening, and ultimately electricity to rural villages via a Power bike kit; Bonface Jiveri, a 29 year- old from Kenya, is converting fruit peeling cellulose biomass and egg shells into a patented Bio-alkanol gel fuel. It is being adopted for use into the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya and Kagera, the transboundary basin of Uganda and Tanzania. Bonaface’s innovation has facilitated a reduction in malaria in the area, and an improvement in income revenue due to the recycling of farm produce. Chifungu Samazaka, a 31-year-old from Zambia has invented a peer to peer gas microgrid system that allows off grid communities to access low cost and environmentally friendly cooking fuel. His innovation has become a more accessible and affordable alternative to charcoal, firewood or electricity off-grid consumers.

Hashim Mutanje, a 32-year-old from Uganda, is utilizing his expertise and team from the Energy Demand Data Aggregation platform to assist and enable energy suppliers to efficiently plan their energy consumption, while serving the needs of rural communities including small businesses. In so doing so, Mutanje is facilitating local job creation by engaging members of the community to become mobile agents.

Victoria Henry Ngayamgunda, a 27 year -old from Tanzania is bringing a Waste Value Chain via the utilization of agro-waste in order to make charcoal briquettes, an affordable and clean energy option for use in cooking. Her focus is the empowerment of woman in rural communities while addressing the very important issue of Sustainable Development. “We want to foster inspirational and innovative thinking starting with our talented African youth and provide them with a platform to access new markets, teach them about how to present their product to the market and expose them to the larger international audience.  The programme has delivered huge success for past year’s nominees and we are delighted to host this initiative for the 3^rd year”, says Liz Hart, MD for African Energy Indaba.  The theme for the Africa Youth Energy Innovator award will continue to focus on innovations that can improve the lives of Africans while providing a platform and opportunities for creative African youth through supporting job creation by implementing energy efficient, affordable and cost-effective products. The winner will be announced at the African Energy Indaba Conference on the 19^th February 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.