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Four Nigerians, Including a Woman, Make Prestigious Africa Prize Shortlist
Four Nigerians have earned spots on the prestigious Africa prize for Engineering Innovation shortlist. The Prize recognizes the most promising entrepreneurial engineers from across sub-Saharan Africa.
Elizabeth Kperrun – the first Nigerian woman to ever make it onto the Africa Prize shortlist – developed Zenafri. This is a series of mobile apps that teach toddlers and young children basic numeracy and literacy in their own language.
Teseem, the first app, teaches toddlers their first words and numeracy in vernacular languages such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Swahili. When children get old enough to follow story lines, Afrotalez narrates original stories based on traditional African folklore, with an educational element added in.
Developed while pregnant with her own child, Zenafri had been an idea of Kperrun’s for years. After recruiting a secondary school classmate to develop the app, Kperrun and colleague Eremia married, and three years later, their daughter is an avid tester of their apps.
Today, Zenafri apps have been downloaded more than 100,000 times, with about 1,200 users logging on every day. The team continually improves the apps using feedback from current users, and has also launched a decision-based storytelling app for teenagers.
Professor Dele Sanni developed the 3-D-3-P dryer is a simple system that dries grains and cereals using conduction rather than hot air, conventionally used in industrial dryers.
Sanni’s system, developed over more than six years in conjunction with students of his over the years, is far more affordable than conventional dryers. Based on the same principle as simply heating grain in a pan over fire, a series of three drums are heated to directly dry out the grains travelling through them. Rollers ensure that grains don’t burn, and the gas heating the system is adjustable at each stage.
As an alternative to drying grains in the sun – a method used by the majority of farmers who cannot afford industrial dryers – the 3-D-3-P dryer is faster and safer. Thousands of Nigerians buy spent grains from local breweries to dry out and use as animal feed – but incur losses through sun drying from animals, and due to fermentation from humidity. Two pilot machines have been sold, and are being used to dry out sawdust before the high-energy waste product is turned into briquettes for sale to European countries.
“There’s a common perception that imported technology is better, but the 3-D-3-P dryer is a locally made, appropriate and affordable solution to so many problems faced by hard-working Nigerian farmers,” said Sanni.
Another innovation on the shortlist is WellNewMe. Designed by Dr Obi Igbokwe, the assessment tool uses algorithms to analyse users’ risks of contracting non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension.
Using years of experience from medical professions, research, and algorithms, the system takes data provided by individual users to predict the risks each faces from their lifestyles, genetics and environment. Users provide simple data such as family history and habits, but also supplement it with blood pressure, blood sugar and other readings from clinics or pharmacies.
Igbokwe, a medical doctor who taught himself to code, created the system in order to give people more insight into their own health. WellNewMe is aimed at pharmacies, clinics, and employers, but will be available to every day online users as well. The data, anonymised, will be shared with government healthcare advisors who are planning resources across the country, further removing guess-work from the approach the public sector takes to non-communicable diseases.
The KAOSHI mobile app, developed by Chukwunonso Arinze, connects money senders across the globe. The app facilitates a peer to peer money swap, circumventing the need to literally send money across borders.
The app tackles the high cost of transferring money to and between African countries, and the hassle of long queues at financial institutions, or buying forex on the black market.
Instead, it allows users who want to send money in opposite directions to swap between themselves, which is cheaper and more convenient.
KAOSHI connects users both within and outside of Africa, allowing each to specify the currencies they want to exchange and matching them to users making inverse exchanges.
“We want to do for international money transfer what peer to peer systems like mobile money has done for domestic payments. Imagine a mother in Ghana being able to send money to her son in California from her mobile phone – KAOSHI is the first of its kind!” said Arinze.
The Africa Prize, which is celebrating its fifth year, is run by the Royal Academy of Engineering. It provides a unique package of support, including funding, comprehensive business training, bespoke mentoring and access to the Academy’s network of high profile, experienced engineers and business development experts.
As well as the chance of winning up to £25,000, each of the 16 shortlisted engineers will develop skills that last a lifetime, and become part of a growing community of talented African engineers working to accelerate socio-economic development through business. The shortlist come from six countries, with five female engineers among them.
“The shortlist has come to represent the most talented engineers on the continent,” said Rebecca Enonchong, Africa Prize judge and Cameroonian entrepreneur.
“Through the Africa Prize, we’ve seen cutting edge technologies and world-firsts develop into businesses that manufacture locally, and drive research and development on the continent. We can’t wait to meet the new group of engineering pioneers.”
After seven months’ mentoring and training, four finalists will be selected from the shortlist. In June 2019 the finalists will present their businesses to judges in front of a live audience in Kampala, after which one winner will receive £25,000, and three runners up will be awarded £10,000 each.
Experts have urged the Nigerian e-commerce industry to use eco-friendly materials in its packaging and logistics of products to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment.
The experts made this known at a sensitisation workshop on Greening E-commerce orgainsed by The Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Development for Decent Employment In Nigeria Programme (SEDIN) – an initiative of the German Development Agency (GIZ) in partnership with Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST).
The experts stressed the importance of e-commerce operators in Nigeria committing to concrete climate actions and sustainable operations.
Nnaemeka Ngwu, director of the public sector initiative and a professor at Lagos Business School, urged e-commerce companies to quickly adopt sustainable green technology to minimize their environmental harm.
“E-commerce is a business enabler and a platform through which many people can get involved in trade and commerce. However, e-commerce also brings lots of issues in sustainability and climate change because of pollution,” he said.
According to him, to improve the sustainability component of e-commerce, the country must promote better packaging and logistics among operators.
“We need to green the e-commerce industry to make it more inclusive and support the climate so that it does not cause risks and issues,” he explained.
He commended the Lagos State government on the ban on single-use plastics, calling for the policy to be complemented with awareness, advocacy, and engagement so that the public understands the reason for the policy.
He noted that such awareness should be done regularly, while urging the Nigerian Postal Service to use its leadership role in the courier industry to engage other courier businesses within the space on the benefits of sustainability and the packaging and logistics issues.
In her opening remarks, Titi Oshodi, special adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, called for awareness on greening across various sectors of governance, communities and the private sector
“This will ensure that people understand the rationale behind the policies on greening and they also understand what the alternatives are,” she noted.
“This is the reason why climate literacy is a front-boner strategy for us in Lagos State,” she added.
She explained that Lagos is a commercial hub that grew its GDP due to the operations of micro, small and medium-size businesses. “We need to have them empowered, more knowledgeable about sustainability practices.”
Tola Odeyemi, postmaster-general, Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST), said the courier can play a strategic and vital role in greening the ecosystem, noting that it has 1,174 post offices nationwide.
Odeyemi, who was represented by Ernest Mamood, general-manager of EMS Parcel Nigeria, said NIPOST is a regulator in the country’s courier industry and can use its position to sensitize other operators in the industry on the use of eco-friendly materials in packaging and logistics to cut environmental impact.
Space42, the UAE-based global AI-powered space-tech company, part of technology group G42, this week announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft and Esri to deliver high-resolution, scalable base maps across all 54 African countries, serving over 1.4 billion people.
Known as the “Map Africa Initiative,” the project will create a comprehensive base map of the continent to date, addressing challenges in infrastructure, investment, and institutional gaps, according to Space24.
The company said the updated mapping system will catalyse economic development through increased access to intelligent solutions that support governments, businesses, and communities.
The five-year collaboration aims to strengthen geospatial capabilities across Africa and the UAE, and provide precise and accessible data to national and regional stakeholders.
Space 24 detailed how the initiative will enable economic opportunities and innovation, saying the program is expected to unlock long-term value across multiple industries including: ports and logistics; renewable energy; security and disaster response; smart cities and digital economies.
It added: “Accurate maps are foundational to urban planning, public services, and technology deployment. The data will be licensed to national governments, enabling ownership and long-term updating by National Mapping Agencies. Over time, the initiative will also support a new commercial ecosystem of African startups. The data will eventually be housed in G42 and Microsoft-managed data centers across the continent.”
Hasan Al Hosani, CEO of Smart Solutions at Space42, said: “Partnership is core to the UAE’s DNA, and is central to how Space42 operates. This collaboration with Microsoft and Esri is more than technical; it’s strategic. It advances Space42’s business priorities, strengthens our role as a trusted partner to governments, and delivers meaningful benefits to communities across Africa.
“Accurate, high-quality mapping and the intelligence solutions built on it are essential for growth, resilience, and inclusive innovation. With reliable data, communities and economies prosper.”
While, Jack Dangermond, president of Esri added: “We are proud to support the Map Africa Initiative in partnership with Space42. Transforming satellite imagery into detailed, accurate base maps at continental scale requires advanced geospatial technology and professional production workflows.
“These same capabilities have supported similar national and regional mapping efforts around the world. With Map Africa, we are helping to establish a foundational resource that will drive infrastructure planning, economic growth, and sustainable development across the continent.”
Kenya has emerged as the global leader in the adoption of ChatGPT, with a higher percentage of its internet users utilizing the AI chatbot than any other country.
According to the July 2025 Global Digital Report from DataReportal and Meltwater, an astounding 42.1% of Kenyan internet users aged 16 and above used ChatGPT in the past month.
This remarkable statistic places Kenya at the forefront of a global shift towards integrating artificial intelligence into daily life, outranking traditionally tech-forward nations such as the United Arab Emirates (42%), Israel (41.4%), Malaysia (39.8%), and Brazil (39.7%). In contrast, major economies like Russia (10.8%), China (7.3%), and Japan (5.8%) showed significantly lower adoption rates.
The report, which provides a comprehensive snapshot of digital trends worldwide, also highlights Kenya’s significant contribution to the platform’s overall traffic. The country is ranked third globally in website traffic to ChatGPT, accounting for 4.81% of all global visits, trailing only the United States and India.
Analysts attribute Kenya’s rapid and widespread adoption of ChatGPT to two primary factors:
- A Young, Tech-Savvy Population: With a median age of just 20, Kenya has one of the youngest populations in the world. This demographic is highly digitally native and has been quick to explore and adopt AI tools for a wide range of purposes, including education, business operations, and content creation.
- High Mobile Internet Penetration: Over 48% of Kenya’s population uses the internet regularly, with the vast majority accessing it via mobile devices. The accessibility of AI tools like ChatGPT on smartphones has been a critical enabler of its adoption, even in semi-urban and rural areas.
The report’s findings come shortly after OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, revealed that the platform now handles over 2.5 billion prompts globally every day. While OpenAI did not provide a breakdown of these prompts by use case, the platform’s popularity for tasks ranging from writing and coding to research and brainstorming is undeniable.
Kenya’s top ranking is a powerful indicator of the country’s dynamic and fast-evolving digital landscape, showcasing an eagerness to embrace cutting-edge technologies and positioning the nation as a key player in the future of AI adoption in Africa.
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