Jacob’s Ladder Africa and Moringa School recently held a Technology for Climate Hackathon, challenging young people to come up with innovative tech-based solutions to address the impact of climate change in Africa. The winning team, Wara Farm, developed an AI-powered solution to address inefficiencies in food supply chains and mitigate food insecurity in the region.
The solution by Wara Farm decentralizes supply chain processes and gives farmers access to the tools and information they need to improve their outputs. Okoa Waste, which focuses on urban waste management, and Kambare, which aims to increase access to high-quality and affordable aqua feeds, took home the second and third place awards, respectively. Jacob’s Ladder Africa will incubate the top five teams to help them further develop their solutions.
“The brilliant ideas presented by the different teams that took part in the hackathon underscores our belief that African youth can be the engine for innovation on the continent. They have the potential to bring forth fresh, new solutions that are contextualised to Africa and we feel compelled to spur them on and help provide the tools they require,” says Bilha Ndirangu, co-founder of Jacob’s Ladder Africa.
With 60% of the African population being under the age of 25, the youth can be catalysts that leverage innovation to combat climate change and develop unique solutions to African challenges.
“Our collaboration with Jacob’s Ladder Africa exemplifies a good meeting of minds in using technology to encourage innovation towards developing solutions for climate change. The need for tech talent stands out and Moringa School continues to produce more and more skilled graduates. Some great ideas have emerged from the hackathon including creating a platform for urban farming, organic waste management and more,” says Snehar Shah, Chief Executive Officer, Moringa School.
The judging panel consisted of Dorothy Maseke, Head of Risk & Compliance at ICEA Lion Group, Lizzie Biney-Amissah, Partner at E3 Capital, Marcus Watson, Partner at KawiSafi Ventures and Francis Kahindi, Founder of Techprescribed.
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