RAN awards 17 innovators under its Lab Youth Spark Innovation Grant

Resilient Africa Network (RAN www.ranlab.org) awarded innovators from East Africa through its  Innovation Lab Youth Spark Innovation Grants (YSiG) at the Makerere University School of Public Health ResilientAfrica Network Innovation Lab in Kololo.

The awards recognized 17 teams of Innovators from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. The Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab (EA RILab) set aside  USD 80,000 only to support 17 Innovator Teams which each received a maximum of USD 5,000 for a 6 months incubation period.

The Youth Spark Innovation Grants received over 400 applications from students who go to Resilient Africa Network (RAN) Partner Universities. However only 17 applications made it to the final selection for awards. 

The projects that were awarded include the following;

Uganda

1. Fruit cycle: A pedal operated cycle that keeps fruits and vegetables fresh. powered by the pedalling mechanism
2. Biomass dryer: A rapid agricultural produce dryer that utilizes briquettes
3. BV-Kit: A phone based tool that tests for early vaginal bacterial infections.
4. Wekebere:  A phone based tool that monitors foetal conditions.
5. Localising production of Boar semen: This looks at local production of reagents that can keep boar semen for long.
6. Lightbulb: A web based tool that links businesses to customers

   

7. Eco cold room: Creating cold rooms for perishable agricultural produce using plastic damped bottles.
8. e-musawo: A telemedicine platform that links remote health centres to medical specialists in referral centres.
9. Waste to wealth: A better briquette making machine that uses domestic rubbish and mixes it in the right proportions to produce robust briquettes that last longer.
10. Pedal Water Tap: A no-touch water tap operated by a foot pedal. This is meant to reduce infections that are picked off water taps.
11. Low Cost Digital Grain Moisture Metre: In a bid to reduce post-harvest losses, a digital grain moisture metre shall help ensure that grains are at the right moisture levels prior to storage.

Tanzania

1. Appraising awareness to step parents towards proper care and protection to their step children: A project aiming at addressing gender based violence towards children by step parents and their other care taker.
2. Self-Regulating Irrigation System for mixed Agriculture Farming: A project aiming at designing a low cost device that is able to monitor irrigation by detecting the moisture level in the soil.
3. Mosfield’s Irrigation Pumps: Aiming at creating low cost irrigation pumps to improve small scale Agriculture in Tanzania.

Rwanda

15. E-Health for Refugees: A web based platform to engage refugee communities in      Rwanda on key issues such as reproductive health and disease preventive strategies.
16. Establishment of Entrepreneurship clubs in secondary schools: A platform to engage secondary schools in skilling them for future employment.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

17. Totonga: A Project that will turn wastes (plastics) into building materials such as bricks.

The winners did not walk away with just awards but they will get 6 months incubation which will enable innovators grow their ideas to fully fledged market products.

Its good to innovate at campus but it’s even better when people recognize innovators and reward them.