Jacob’s Ladder Africa on Friday, January 24, hosted a climate solutions “Demo Day” competition program to support emerging green entrepreneurs in an effort to help address pressing environmental challenges across East Africa.
The program marked the culmination of the Powering Food Systems Innovation Challenge, a dynamic hackathon-style competition designed to inspire and engage young aspiring entrepreneurs.
“Youth unemployment is an issue that Jacob’s Ladder Africa seeks to address by creating opportunities for and by the youth, through the incubation programme,” said Karen Chelang’at, Chief Innovation Officer at Jacob’s Ladder Africa.
“Many start-ups fail within their first two years due to weak foundations and a lack of essential skills and resources. We aim to curb start-up mortality by addressing these exact challenges” she added.
Participants explored how renewable energy can transform food systems from production to consumption. Solutions ranged from energy-efficient farming techniques and renewable-powered food processing to sustainable transport and waste reduction through smart energy systems.
Finalist teams were drawn from various counties across Kenya, namely, Baringo, Busia, Homa Bay, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kisii, Kisumu, Lamu, Machakos, Makueni, Meru, Mombasa, Nakuru, Nyeri, Tranza Nzoia, Turkana, Uasin Gishu and Nairobi to present their innovative and scalable ideas aimed at building sustainable and resilient food systems powered by renewable energy.
The startups benefited from mentorship and capacity-building sessions leading up to the Demo Day, equipping them with the skills and insights needed to navigate the rigorous selection process and deliver compelling pitches.
Some of the innovations showcased included Solar Compost IT, an in-vessel composting machines that transforms organic waste into compost, bio-fertilizer, and pellets, reducing methane emissions and decomposition time; NuRa, a clean, renewable innovation that harnesses concentrated solar power, CSP to generate steam, to power large-scale kitchens; Smart Hive Optimization, a solar powered IoT sensor that tracks hive conditions, and TEAtrans, a solar-powered ventilated container equipped with fans to provide continuous airflow immediately the tea leaves are plucked, among others.
The event also featured an expert judging panel comprising industry leaders, including Luiza Munyua, Snr. Scientific Officer, African Union; Omondi Kasidhi, Senior Manager, Digital Growth & Commercialization – Africa Yara International; Mutembei Kariuki, Co-Founder and CEO, Fastagger; Ann Ichungwa, Founder, GAK Advisory; Bilha Ndirangu, CEO, Great Carbon Valley and Sharon Olende, Trade & Working Capital Finance, Churpy Inc., who evaluated the finalists’ solutions and selected the winners. The Demo Day concluded with an award ceremony celebrating the ingenuity and efforts of the participants with part of the main considerations for selection being the solution’s impact on women and youth.
Participants had the chance to win monetary prizes in the form of pre-seed capital, ranging from Sh10,000 to Sh100,000. In third place was Bettinah Maruti from iLoop KE and Logistics, an innovative solution addressing food spoilage and storage issues for vendors in low-income areas. Second place went to Alfred Mutethia, Steven Mwaura, and Victor Gituma from Solar Nest, a poultry farming solution leveraging advanced solar tracking technology, ESP32 microcontrollers, and cameras. The grand prize of Ksh 200,000 was awarded to Urbanus Lubano from Empire Innovations, a company creating renewable energy-powered machinery for sustainable agriculture.
In addition to these cash prizes, all finalists earned full sponsorship to join the nine-month greenlabs incubation program. This program provides green entrepreneurship training, tailored mentorship, networking opportunities, and exposure to industry leaders, empowering participants to transform their concepts into viable startups.
Jacob’s Ladder Africa is committed to fostering innovation and sustainable development across the continent. The greenlabs program exemplifies this mission by equipping young entrepreneurs with the tools and support needed to tackle the complex challenges of food systems and energy access.
