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18th
COMESA SUMMIT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT, ADDIS ABABA
ETHIOPIAMARCH2015:PRESENTATIONOF2015COMESAINNOVATIONAWARDS
Your Excellency Hailemariam Desalegn Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia and the Chairman of the COMESA Authority
Your Excellencies, The Heads of State and Government Present
Your Excellencies, The First Ladies Present
Honorable Ministers
The Secretary General of COMESA
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen
Itis with greathonourthat I stand here to presentto you the winnersof the 2014/5
COMESA Innovation Awards. Pleaseallow mefirstto give you insightin whatthese
awards stand for.
In 2013, the COMESA Innovation Awards were launched to celebrate the Africa
Unions 50th Anniversary. Theaim of these awards was to recognize and celebrate
individuals and institutions that have used Science, Technology and Innovation to
further the COMESA regional integration agenda. Last year in February, the
inaugural COMESA Innovation Awards were successfully given out at the 17th
Summit of the COMESA Heads of State and Government in Kinshasa DR Congo.
Your Excellences, the question on everybody’s mind probablyis why weemphasize
Innovations in Science and Technology? In light of the revolutionary scientific and
technological advances that are changing the world, the COMESA Innovations
Awards have a comprehensive and coherent strategy aimed at encouraging and
developing manpower in Science and Technology on our continent.
Currently, most of the world’s richest people are those that have taken advantage
of innovation in Science and Technology. Looking at the stories of Microsoft’s Bill
Gates, Facebook’sMarkZuckerberg,24yearold Evan Spiegel, co-founderof photo-
messagingappSnapchat,31year old Elizabeth Holmes, whorunsblood-testingfirm
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Theranos and many more, I know one thing for sure: Africa has equally brilliant
youths and whatwe need is a comprehensiveand coherentstrategy to guide them
to new frontiers for them to surpass the records already broken! This is the only
way Africa can leapfrog and join the developed nations.
It is important to note that the 2015 Forbes Billionaires list contains 1,826
billionaires with a net worth of US$ 7.05 billion. This includes 290 newcomers, 71
of whom hail from China. California driven by Silicon Valley tech companies has
spawned23new billionaires. CaliforniaState nowhas 131individualswith 10figure
net worth (billionaires) more than any country besides China and US. Furthermore
46 on the 2015ForbesBillionaires List areunder 40,which demonstratethat young
people can innovate and contribute to the economic development of their
countries.
Academic institutions like California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Stanford
University and University of California together with tech companies in Silicon
Valley have evolved a model of supporting startups and turning them into
billionaire companies. China on the other hand has proven that with heavy
investments in Science, Technology and Innovation it can break records and
become an economic superpower and also be home to most of the world’s
billionaires. Africa has been excelling in some sports whose economic impact is
minimal and therefore Africa needs to heavily invest in Science, Technology and
Innovation if it is going to catch up with the developed countries.
There is no doubtthat Science, Technology and Innovation for poverty eradication,
job creation and generally sustainabledevelopmentis extremely opportuneforour
continent. In the words of President KwameNkrumah, and I quote “Itis within the
possibility of science and technology to make even the Sahara bloom into a vast
field with verdantvegetation for agriculturaland industrial development”. TodayI
standhere to saythatmany of ouryouthsarealreadythinking and workingtowards
achieving this. So, COMESA needs to set up an Innovation Fund that shall support
the incubation of key innovation projects identified by the COMESA Innovation
Council.
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Just like last year, the 2014/2015 COMESA Innovation Awards focused on new
products,new methods of production and new waysof improvingtechnology. Also
included in the criteria was methodology of opening up new markets, new ways of
doing business, conquest of new sources of supply of raw materials and
implementation of a new form of commercialization among others.
The criteria considered during the judging process are novelty, scalability, socio-
economic and environmental impact of the innovation presented.
Last but not least, I would like to pose a challenge to your Excellencies present to
support the institutionalization and sustainability of the COMESA innovation
awards. It would be great if next year we can for example have President Joseph
Kabila COMESA Youth Innovation Award, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
COMESA SMEs Innovations Award, PresidentUhuru Kenyatta COMESA Women in
Business Innovation Award, President Kagame COMESA Institutional Innovation
Award and PresidentYoweriMuseveniCOMESA Investor of theyear Award among
others to take this initiative to the next level. Through your generous material and
moral supportyou can set an example that can inspire the army of youth we have
in the region to utilize technology to lead the economic transformation in the
region. These awards need to be regionally funded and supported to ensure
sustainability.
Your Excellencies, Itis with great honour that I presentto you these winners of the
2015 COMESA Innovation Awards.
1. Youth Category
Place Name Title of the Project Brief Project Description
2nd
Runner
Up
Fredrick
Alunala
Mahumu
Integrated
Barcode & Near
Field
This technology uses barcodes to effect
payments at point of sale location. This is done
throughscanning of a customer’sbarcodesticker
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Kenya Communication
device for
payment
attached to a phone or a credit/debit card. A
push notification if initiated to the customer’s
phone for them to key in a PIN to confirm the
transaction. This technology is applicable in
supermarket retail outlets, public transport
sector payments, healthcare clinics and
insurance payment among others.
1st
Runner
Up
Atuheire
Korinako
Godfrey
Uganda
Biodegradable
products from
Agricultural waste
(paper Bags,
Charcoal
Briquettes and
Disposable
sanitary pads)
The project focuses on utilization of locally
generated raw materials (agricultural wastes) to
make biodegradable bags to a better substitute
for polythene bags, cheap disposable sanitary
pad for school girls in Uganda and Charcoal
briquettes which is a better substitute for wood
charcoal. This project contributes a lot to
environmental protection and creation of
employment for the youth in both village and
town areas.
Winner Jacob Maina
Rugano
Nairobi
Kenya
Integrated car
tracking and
monitoring
system with
alcohol
breathalyzer
sensor to
demobilize the car
to prevent drunk
driving
The system has a private alcohol sensor put
insidethe car suchthat anytime the driverenters
the car while drank, it senses and sends a signal,
private camera inside the car allowing one to
take photos of the people inside, instant tracking
via mobile phone, hi-jack button put next to the
driver and only disclosed to him/her such that in-
case the driver is hi-jacked, s/he presses the
button which then sends an SMS to his family
members notifying them that the driver is in an
emergency and needs immediate help.
The systemalsoenables one to stop his orher car
by SMS in case it is stolen as well as take photos
of the thugs,listen to conservationinside the car.
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2. Women Category
Place Name Title of the Project Brief Project Description
2nd
Runner
Up
Clemence
Uwayisenga
Rwanda
Production of
biodegradable
handmade paper
bags based in
water hyacinth
CurrentRwandan marketas the alternative after
the ban of manufacturing, importing, using and
selling polythenewhich included polytheneretail
bags and plastic fill used to packaged foods and
consumable products in Rwanda. The present
project targets the entire geographical area
where the plant infestation is a likelihood of a
menace for eradication and to providethe entire
population of Rwanda with high quality of
biodegradable paper bags at the lowest price.
1st
Runner
Up
Mukakabano
Virgine
Rwanda
Mosquito
repellent from
local essential oils
The business works with rural women in
cultivating geranium and citronella and then
adds value to the production by extracting the
precious essential oils and producing mosquito
repellent candles in short time and different
cosmetic products in long term.
Winner Therese
IZAY-
KIRONGOZI
BAKEMAMIE
Kinshasa,DRC
Intelligent Traffic
robot Cop with
inbuilt 360
degrees camera
system and solar
power
The Traffic Robot is a high-tech Robot traffic
police capable of ensuring smooth movement of
traffic of vehicles and pedestrians at
intersections of urban centers independently. It
ensures the safety of vehicles, drivers and
pedestrians at the same time it allows remote
monitoring of the flow of traffic and pedestrians.
It has a dual function of regulation of traffic
coupled with thatof remotemonitoring of traffic
using inbuilt 360 degree cameras capable
capturing images over a distant of 200m. It is
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solar powered and can remit traffic data
instantly to a control center
3. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Category
Place Name Title of the Project Brief Project Description
2nd
Runner
Up
Muhire Louis
Antoine
Rwanda
Mobile payments
system between
Diaspora& merchants
Mobile payment application allows Rwandan
migrants to pay airtime, tuition fees, and utility
bills for their relatives in Rwanda, at a low cost.
1st
Runner
Up
Abdalla
Ismail
Mohamed
Ali
Egypt
Multi- purposes
environmental
friendly cleaner
Production of Multi- purposes industrial cleaner
and degreaser that eliminates and grease
buildups, oily deposits, oilcan spots, grimes,
carbonized oil, gear lubes, tar and bituminous
deposits and hard stain.
Winner Isidore
NZEYIMANA
Kigali
Rwanda
Improvement of
Thermal energy
efficiency by
introducing
TEKUTANGIJE
cooking
Technology
To preserve carbon sinks, reducing Greenhouse
Gases (GHG) emissions from the burning of
biomass, preserving the health of the population
by releasing smoke with special chimney and
acquisition of boiled water to drink, Mr Isidore
Nzeyimana has invented a technology suitable
for underdeveloped countries named
TEKUTANGIJE technology.
This is an energy efficient technology reducing
energy loss through heat recovery system,
management of the oxygen needed for
combustion chamber and carrying the
combustion gases from kitchen through the
chimney. In addition, full recovery of the energy
operator for cooking, serving atthe same time to
heat water and roasting of different products.
4. Group Category
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Place Name Title of the Project Brief Project Description
Winner 1. Moustafa
Youssef
2. Heba
Allah Aly
Abd El-
Halim Aly
Ismail
Alexandria
Egypt
A Low-cost
Accurate and
Energy Efficient
Outdoor
Localization
System for
security, disaster
management,
communication
and tourism
sectors
While GPS is the most commonly used outdoor
localization system, it suffers from many
problems such as poor accuracy in urban areas
and high latency. Moreover, turning the GPS on
can drain the phone’s battery in a few hours.
This device provides an accurate, energy-
efficient and low-cost alternative to GPS. The
device can provide an accurate estimate of the
user’s outdoor location using her Smartphone
only, which is ubiquitously available anywhere
around the world. It uses the energy efficient sensors
available on all commodity off-the-shelf phones and it
does not require any infrastructure or hardware to be
installed.
5. Institutional Category
Place Name Title of the Project Brief Project Description
1st
Runner
Up
Musenga
Silwawa
Zambia
Spot fertilizer
applicator
A fertilizer application implement that is hand
held and activated by the downward forceof the
operators hand. Ithelps farmers to precisely and
efficiently apply fertilizer to crops within 50%
improved efficiency and labour requirement.
Improves the efficiency of application of
fertilizers, cost and time saving, reduces
environmental impact.
Winner Andrew
Oduory
Western
Institute of
Professional
Extraction of
fragrance from
lemon grass for
cosmetics and
pharmaceutical
usage
This is the use of a simple locally assembled
system to extract fragrances from lemon grass
that can be used to manufacture shampoo, Bar
Soap,Detergents, and Air fresheners.Sincethis is
a bio-based fragrance it has minimum effect on
environmentdegradation compared to imported
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Luanda
Kenya
fragrances which arepetro-chemicals based. The
extraction technology can provide alternative
income to farmers by growing lemon grass in
large scale as a cash crop.
Your Excellencies this marks the end of the awards ceremony and I thank you.
Professor Venansius Baryamureeba, Chairperson COMESA Innovation Council.
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Appendix
Criteria Score Description
Novelty,
Creativity/Innovativeness 35%
New Idea, Significant advancement in
the field, Product/prototype,
commercial viability, Patentability
Scalability 20%
National, regional & global (impact on
Forex)
Economic Impact 20%
Job creation, revenue, value addition,
costsavings, efficiency, competitiveness,
wealth creation, enhance access to
services
Social Impact (actual or
potential) 15%
Improve quality of life/human
development (women and youth
productivity)
Environmental Impact
10%
Environmentally sustainable
Total 100
