The final of the AGEA Business Idea Competition 2023 was held on 31 July 2023 as part of the opening day of the ACCESS International Summer School and Conference, held in Abuja, Nigeria. The event was organised in a blended format with about 150 in-person and over 100 virtual participants. The participants were made up of students and lecturers from African universities.
This year, the competition focussed on “smart-green” ideas that promote the sustainable economic use of natural resources and/or digitalisation and integration of digital systems in African businesses.
This year, 90 registrations from individuals and teams from 13 countries were received from 41 African universities. Out of the total registrations, 41 entries were completed in the Innolytics stage on our innovation platform ”Innolytics” for more details on the business case for the ideas. A team of evaluators assessed and rated the ideas based on set criteria to determine the top ideas for the final. This year seven ideas were selected for the finals. These include four idea concepts: Hermetiavity (Makerere University, Uganda), AgroPremium (University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe and KNUST, Ghana), Solar Powered Sensor Drone (Ghana Communication Technology University, Ghana) and OzoneTech (University of Sfax, Tunisia). The others were Garden in a box Africa (University of Ibadan, Nigeria), SmartFarm (KNUST, Ghana) and Kodu-Pads (University for Development Studies, Ghana). Read more about the ideas.
The final ideas were presented to the audience through promotional idea videos to the final jury members and the audience (in-person and online). Based on the videos, the jury scored and ranked the ideas in the two categories. The audience also voted for the best idea to win the Audience Award.
Here are the final winners of the AGEA Business Idea Competition 2023:
- Jury Winners
- Best Idea Concept: Solar-Powered Sensor Drone (Ghana Communication Technology University, Ghana)
- Best Prototype: Kodu-Pads (University for Development Studies, Ghana)
- Audience Winners
- Best Idea Concept: Hermetiavity (Makerere University, Uganda)
- Best Prototype: Kodu-Pads (University for Development Studies, Ghana).
As part of the prizes and benefits for their achievements, six of the teams (two members each) have been invited for a five-day study tour in Germany – from 31 August to 04 September 2023 – to be exposed and interact with green technology-based start-ups and participate in the Green World Tour Fair in Berlin. They will also have the opportunity to visit the DHL hub in Leipzig and other companies to help expose them to innovations and sustainability concepts. The teams will also be issued with a Certificate of Achievement.
All the Top seven teams will participate in business development training in the AGEA Start-up Class to ensure the ideas become viable products and services for various markets. They will be engaged in an intensive two-and-a-half day training and Coaching in innovative business model development and also pitching the business idea to investors.
Special thanks to our sponsors, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD), Conoscope GmBH and the Digital Logistics Project for their continuous supporting this initiative of AGEA. The study tour is being funded through the Digital Logistics project.
