Latest News Editor's Choice


News / National

Zimbabwean engineers and innovators invited to enetre competition

by Staff reporter
17 Jul 2019 at 20:52hrs | Views
Engineers and innovators from Zimbabwe and other sub-Saharan countries are invited to enter the sixth edition of the prestigious Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, Zim Techreview reports.

The Africa Prize trains engineers and innovators working in engineering.

Zimbabweans have featured on Africa Prize's shortlist almost every year since its inception in 2014, and Zimbabwe has been one of the biggest sources of female engineering entries in the prize.

Local innovations that have made the award's shortlist in the past include NatiV, a mother tongue app that teaches children local languages, and a small-scale crushing machine for sustainable gold mining

The Africa Prize encourages talented engineers, from all disciplines, to develop local solutions to challenges in their communities. The prize aims to stimulate, celebrate and reward innovation and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.

Entrepreneurs from all engineering disciplines, with an innovation that can provide scalable solutions to local challenges, are invited to enter by Monday 22 July 2019.

The Prize, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK, selects a shortlist of innovators from across the continent. The candidates receive training and mentoring in which they learn to develop business plans and market their innovations. The group receives coaching on structuring their business, communicating effectively, focusing on customers and approaching investors with confidence.

After six months of training, finalists present their innovation to judges and a live audience, before a winner is awarded £25,000. Runners up receive £10,000.

Previous winners of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation are Tanzanian Dr Askwar Hilonga, creator of the NanoFilter, and Cardiopad founder Arthur Zang from Cameroon.

Africa Prize chair of judges, Malcom Brinded CBE FREng, said: "Engineering is crucial to social and economic development in South Africa and internationally. The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims to recognise the importance of African engineers and to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, while encouraging young people to become engineers by creating successful role models."