JOHANNESBURG - The African Energy Indaba on Thursday announced five nominees for its youth energy innovator awards which focus on innovations to improve lives on the continent and provide a platform for young people to create energy efficient, affordable and cost-effective products.
The nominees will exhibit their products at an exhibition running concurrently with a conference in Johannesburg next month.
They include Bongajum Lesley Ndzi, a Cameroonian living in Senegal who is endeavouring to bring light to students who need to study in the evening, and ultimately electricity to rural villages via a power bike kit.
Bonface Jiveri, from Kenya, is converting fruit peeling cellulose biomass and egg shells into a patented Bio-alkanol gel fuel. It is being adopted for use into the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya and Kagera, the transboundary basin of Uganda and Tanzania.
Jiveri's innovation has facilitated a reduction in malaria in the area, and an improvement in income revenue due to the recycling of farm produce.
Zambia's Chifungu Samazaka has invented a peer-to-peer gas microgrid system that allows off grid communities to access low cost and environmentally friendly cooking fuel. His innovation has become a more accessible and affordable alternative to charcoal, firewood or electricity off-grid consumers.
Hashim Mutanje from Uganda is utilising his expertise and team from the Energy Demand Data Aggregation platform to assist and enable energy suppliers to efficiently plan their energy consumption, while serving the needs of rural communities including small businesses.
Victoria Ngayamgunda year -old from Tanzania is utilising agro-waste to make charcoal briquettes, an affordable and clean energy option for use in cooking.
“We want to foster inspirational and innovative thinking starting with our talented African youth and provide them with a platform to access new markets, teach them about how to present their product to the market and expose them to the larger international audience," said African Energy Indaba managing director Liz Hart.
"The programme has delivered huge success for past year’s nominees and we are delighted to host this initiative for the third year.
The Africa Energy Indaba brings together leading energy players to unlock business opportunities across the continent.