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Six Kenyan innovators emerged victorious in the Mozilla Africa Innovation Challenge, securing Sh13 million in grants after an intensive pitching and selection process.

Global tech giant, Mozilla Corporation and Nairobi County picked three tech start-ups namely: Getpayd, Deaf Elimu and Hali Halisi, and three student innovators, Classify Me, Audred and Mama Pesa during the event held at the Arboretum Park in Nairobi.

In addition to the cash award, the innovators will get technical assistance to further develop their products and position themselves in the market.

The programme is designed to identify African tech entrepreneurs or startups and tech students who can benefit from an acceleration programme that will provide technical support, access to grants and ultimately, market access for their products.

The initiative is designed to promote innovation led by and grounded in the unique needs of users on the African continent. Joseph Gakah and his Co-founder Wei John, creators of the app, Audread were among the winners at the event. Their app is designed to assist refugees access learning in a region where getting education is tough.

“It was just before the deadline and I decided to try it out. It wasn’t easy trying to find an investor for our app but thanks to Mozilla, we can now be able to advance the app. We wanted to show our app to relevant individuals who could provide us with the funding to finish our app and be able to release it for use by the vulnerable and unfortunate individuals,” he explains.

Lack of proper equipment to actually build an app that could host the software was one of the areas where the two needed finances to buy new equipment. They also needed funds to purchase cloud resources that could host the main app.

“The cash will enable us to expand our team, finish the app and be able to market it to the world. The win will inspire other young people from where I come from to embrace technology and science and help solve problems that actually affect them,” Gakah adds.

Despite the fact that she didn’t win, for Grace Kerongo, the founder of Akili Online, an AI powered tool revolutionising how African creatives manage their daily task, participating in the event enabled them to meet partners who desire to assist them in developing their app.

“For the two days we were there, we met people who desired to know more about the app, its capability and how they can partner with us. I’m looking forward to the partnerships that will come out of the challenge,” she says.

According to research carried out by Mozilla, out of the Sh6 billion used to finance startups in the country, two per cent went to women yet they are the backbone of development of the continent.
Funding too is a challenge with the rural areas being the most affected yet, they have the bulk of the solutions when it comes to innovation.

The study also found out that African investors are least likely to invest in tech startups as they only view investments as tangible product.

The government in partnership with Mozilla will place 85 fully-kitted incubation centres for local youths to support programmess and funding. One of the establishments is an incubation hub at the Eastlands Library in Maringo Hamza Ward, Makadara Constituency supporting over 20 startups on investor readiness and coding for kids aged between seven and 13.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mozilla Corporation, Moringa school, Adanian Lab, and Baraza Media Lab that will focus on the Innovation and Digital Economy Sector until 2027.

The deal is meant to support entrepreneurs and startups in Nairobi as the county plans to digitalise all its services, including payment.