EAC Regional Grand Finale Winners
On Thursday, 26 May 2022 we celebrated 12 digital innovations from 6 East-African Countries and cheered together with the East African Innovation Ecosystem as 12 finalists pitched their ideas to the EAC grand finale Jury.
The event will be hosted in Kampala, Uganda, at Media Challenge Initiative. But also broadcasted live via Zoom live stream.
During the Grand Finale, each of the 12 teams had five (5) minutes to present their ideas to the Jury and presented their solutions, and their financial asking. After, the judges had 5 minutes to ask any clarification questions or share insights and feedback with the team.
A total of USD 10,000 was awarded to five selected winning teams. Below are the EAC regional grand finale winners.
BEYI Group by Abayisenga Enock (Rwanda)
BEYI Group manufactures and provides rice planting machines that are used in planting rice to help rice farmers to reduce losses brought by traditional planting methods. The machine uses solar to charge and can transplant rice automatically without an operator, BEYI Group is helping local farmers to reduce labor costs and farm efficiently.
Smart Water Meter by Ndayisenga Gilbert (Rwanda)
Smart Water Meter is an innovation that monitors water consumption through its digital water monitoring platform, predicts water demand, and provides real-time notifications. The water meter is installed in households to count and provide real-time water usage and provide a dashboard for water management and water demand prediction. The water meter also sends notifications to the users in real-time, showing how much water they are using.
Smart Water Meter also scooped the audience. Selected by the online viewers.
Stofresh by Charles Oyamo (Kenya)
Stofresh is a “store and sells” solution for smallholder farmers that gives them access to shared cold storage facilities and a market via USSD technology. Charles Oyamo and the team charge farmers to store their produce and are also building a sales commission model for vendors on our platform.
Nileboda, by Suzanne Gideon (South Sudan)
NileBoda is a South Sudanese Ride-Hailing company that focuses on conveying passengers between locations of their choices on a motorbike safely by using the innovative solution, Nile Boda is also designing an asset financing program that provides an opportunity to young people to lease motorbikes to work as riders.
Kawu, by Steven Kakooza (Uganda)
Kawu is a 5D approach that addresses money transfer, safe expenditure, and savings challenges amongst students. Not having access to money can be daunting for students, especially in an emergency at school, and as well safely managing petty cash. Using Kawu smart cards, parents and guardians can now transfer funds to students. The innovation also offers alternative sources of income to the school staff that acts as money transfer agents.