Africa 2020 Finalists

Fernanda Samuel

OTCHIVA - Restoring mangroves in Angola

I grew up along the coast of Angola, amidst the mangroves and feel deeply connected to the beautiful biodiversity this ecosystem had to offer - from migratory birds to fish, crustaceans and molluscs. But since my childhood, many developments started to appear in these sensitive ecological areas resulting in a sharp decline in species along with the invaluable ecosystem services mangroves offer, leading to an increase in floods. For the last few years I have been leading public awareness campaigns about the importance of mangroves, along with cleaning and reforestation activities with the help of thousands of volunteers. My project, OTCHIVA (wetland) has sensitized the locals our massive cleaning and restoration campaign, spanning many months has resulted in the steady increase in the flamingos and crabs population, and has restored the communities' subsistence fishing life. The visceral impact of my work has influenced local government to join the project. My work was publicly praised by the Vice President of the Republic of Angola during his speech for the National Independence of Angola in November 2019. In January 2020, I was called to be received in an audience by the same Vice President who personally praised my activity, and sought to learn more about my restoration and protection of the mangroves. My dream is to see the mangroves in Angola definitively protected, to reinstate the resilience of our coastline, as well as the well-being of all species that depend on mangroves, including ourselves.

Ghislain Irakoze

Wastezon - smart waste in Rwanda

With a vision of creating a waste-free world, Wastezon provides households and recycling actors with cutting edge technologies for efficient waste collection, sorting, and traceability. Our technology assists the recycling actors to outsource their raw materials while on the other hand helping households get rid of their e-waste by selling it. To date, Wastezon has registered, via its mobile application: 150 e-scrappers, 162 households, and collected over 416 tons of electronic waste (e-waste) - which is equivalent to 2826.42 metric tons of avoided carbon dioxide emissions. Our next step is introducing a win-win solution, “Wastezon Smart Bin,” that responds to both households’ waste collection needs and the growing demand for fertilizers or compost. Our Wastezon Smart Bin offers automated sorting, tracks waste decomposition, sterilizes the waste odor, and provides real-time information to enable effective waste material circularity.

Joy Egbe

Just Add Water: Renewable hydrogen for power

Energy poverty is one of the biggest challenges faced in Africa with over 600 million people living in the dark. Meanwhile hydrocarbon-based electrical generators and cookers currently used by many households in urban communities contribute to air pollution which is affecting millions in Nigeria every day. My cause is a personal cause- in 2013 I lost my aunt who was seven months’ pregnant to indoor air pollution. This pushed me to pursue researching energy use in Nigeria and developing the technology Just Add Water - a device that uses conformer solar cells and water to generate hydrogen via reversible fuel cells. The apparatus is designed to produce electricity and cooking gas for households without any cost of refueling - simply the addition of water. We understand that clean water is often scarce in Africa, especially in rural areas, so we developed our technology to perform better with household grey water. Our solution is in its pilot stage, currently serving 26 households in Nigeria and 5 businesses. We believe this technology will revolutionize Africa’s energy and will help eliminate our heavy dependence on the fossil fuels causing so much damage to our planet.

Nzambi Matee

Gjenge Makers - building a greener Kenya

Gjenge Makers Ltd is a sustainable, alternative and affordable building products manufacturing company. They produce eco-friendly pavers that are made of a composite of recycled waste plastic and sand. They have partnered with different manufacturers of plastics bottle tops and seals in the beverage and pharmaceutical industries in Kenya, from whom they collect offcuts and scraps. This is amalgamated with discarded single use plastics that our informal waste collectors deliver to us.

Richard Kakunga Wambua

GreenPap®- a tree-species growing, survival & monitoring platform

GreenPap® by MeForest Initiative™ is a mobile and web-based platform seeking to establish a paradigm shift from sporadic tree planting to more purpose-driven tree growing, recommending the best tree species to plant as per the climatic conditions and soil composition of an area. This recommendation includes the economic value of the trees at hand, thus not only impacting communities socio-economically but also ensuring they become more climate-resilient. GreenPap® enables users to virtually plant trees via our Green Ambassadors, as well as analyzing and visualizing data to monitor tree survival rates across the country, through the use of drones and satellite imagery.

The platform has been acclaimed by the Kenyan Ministry of Environment and Forestry for its contribution towards attainment of over 10% tree cover by 2022 as per Article 69 (1)(b) of the Kenyan Constitution. Grants received from Microsoft & SkyWatch have largely propelled transition into machine learning and AI, including access to satellite data-sets to better monitor tree survival.