Two Africans named to MIT’s top innovators list By AFRICA REVIEW Writer | Wednesday, September 4 2013 The MIT Technology Review , a publication of top US university Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has named two Africans to its 2013 list of 35 Innovators under 35. For his work in solar lighting, Kenya’s Evans Wadongo was recognised as an outstanding humanitarian on the annual global list released in August . Mr Wadongo’s technological breakthrough consists of "portable LED lamps that could be recharged by sunlight". These solar charged lanterns are transforming rural lives in Kenya and beyond, his citation said. By providing a better and cleaner light source, rural residents are able to save a dollar a week on kerosene – freeing up the money for small investments. Through his organisation Sustainable Development For All, Mr Wadongo has distributed 32,000 lanterns and is planning on increasing that number by opening 20 manufacturing centres in Kenya and Malawi. This would further change lives with the manufacturing jobs he creates, the MIT Review noted. He currently employs three men in a workshop in Nairobi’s industrial area who manufacture 100 lamps a week and earn a monthly salary of $440 – higher than Kenya’s minimum wage. Ghana’s Bright Simons has also been honoured as an outstanding entrepreneur. His innovation, the mPedigree Network, lets people determine with a text message whether their medicine is legitimate. Daunting Initially Mr Simons had wanted to provide African farmers with an alternative to the expensive organic certification process. However, it soon became apparent to him how daunting a task it is to teach rural farmers how to code their products. "The idea was that at the point of sale there’d be a code on the product. You’d enter that in a mobile device, and up will pop the history and even pictures of the farm," he said. mPedigree allows people to send a text message and receive a reply within seconds on the authenticity of pharmaceuticals. This technology is now used in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and India, and there pilots are currently being run in Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Bangladesh. The application can also be used by distributors to check whether their supplies have been compromised or replaced by counterfeits. "We are now expanding to seeds, cosmetics, and other businesses. And new applications are emerging that we hadn’t expected, in the areas of logistics, supply chain management, and marketing," he says in his citation.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 02:35:42 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015