Archive for category: dSkills

After six bootcamps and national pitch events in 3 weeks, the lineup for the Regional Pitch Event of the Digital Innovations for Business Resilience in the East African Community, a program under the dSkills@EA project, has been finalized. A total of 12 teams from the six East African Community member states (started before DRC joined) will battle it out for $10,000. 

These 12 teams emerged as the top two from their national pitch events. Each team has already received $1,000 courtesy of the Inter-University Council for East Africa(IUCEA) while those in Tanzania received a further $750 from the country partners UNDP Accelerator Labs. 

The first pitch events were in Uganda and South Sudan which took place on 26th March 2022 at the end of week-long bootcamps. Kenya and Rwanda followed suit on 2nd April 2022 and the final pitch events were in Tanzania and Burundi on 9th April 2022. These are the teams that emerged from a crowd of 10 that made it to the bootcamps.

The 12 Finalists For the Regional Pitch Event in May

1.E-Health by Gerard Kakunze (Burundi)

E-Health is a mobile app where patients can register and book appointments/consultations online using messaging or video.

2. Innova Mobile App by Jean Marie Benjamin Lionel Muhimpundu (Burundi)

Innova is an app that is connected to the Burundian tax administration and any taxpayer so that they can obtain their tax receipts directly to their email addresses.

3. TellAdvert by Walter Andrew (Tanzania)

TellAdvert is a web app that enables vendors to sell their products to offline and online customers.

4. Agrichain by Justine Bahati (Tanzania)

Agrichain connects farmers to buyers directly by listing their produce via SMS and web platform.

5.Easy Home by Benaiah Wepundi (Kenya)

Easy Home is a digital innovation that provides property owners with a platform to list their properties, screen tenants based on data that we provide and manage their properties. 

6. Impact Farm by Charles Oyamo (Kenya)

Impact Farm is a grocery delivery service that delivers fresh groceries in under 30 minutes from a network of small scale farmers. 

7. Smart Water Meter by Ndayisenga Gilbert (Rwanda)

Smart Water Meter is an innovation that counts the water consumed through its digital water monitoring platform. It also predicts water demand and provides real-time notifications on water usage. 

8. BEYI Group by Abayisenga Enock (Rwanda)

BEYI Group is the builder of the Agri-automatic Rice Transplanter, the world’s first machine that can transplant rice automatically without an operator on board. 

9. Early Stroke Detector, by Keith Richard Kwagala (Uganda) 

The Early Stroke Detector is a wearable portable device that monitors the behaviour of blood flow through the carotid arteries by amplifying and listening to the sound. It records this and will beep whenever blood flow is interrupted within the carotid artery leading to the brain.

10. Kawu, by Steven Kakooza (Uganda) 

Kawu is a 5D approach that addresses money transfer, safe expenditure, and savings challenges amongst students. It also offers alternative sources of income to the school staff that acts as agents. 

11. GoGo Play, by Rachel Hakim 

GoGo Play is a South Sudanese subscription-based video-on-demand service offering a variety of content like music, series, drama, comedy, ticketing, and events. It will be the bridge between the audience and creative creators. It will expose, market, promote, distribute, monetize and employ entertainers. 

12. Nileboda, by Suzanne Gideon

Nileboda is a ride-hailing digital innovation that connects commuters to well-trained bike riders through a mobile app. 

What is Next?

The 12 finalists will battle it out for $10,000 at the regional pitch event that will take place in May. The dates for the event will be confirmed in due course. The event will be online. 

About the Program.

Digital Skills for an Innovative East African Industry (dSkills@EA) is a project as part of the technical development cooperation between the German Government under the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat.

The project is implemented by the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), together with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the East African-German academic consortium led by the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) and the University of Oldenburg (UOL) together with its partners the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the University of Technology and Arts Byumba (UTAB), the University of Applied Sciences Mannheim and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).