By Politico staff writer
A young Sierra Leonean Entrepreneur, Margaret Yainkain Mansaray has been shortlisted together with 14 other African innovators for the 2023 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The academy in a press release dated 23rd November 2022 stated that Mansaray had invented a non-electric cooking Smart Green Stove, which is said to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and health risks, thereby drastically limiting energy use by 70 percent.
15 people from 10 African countries are in contention for the award which is geared towards using engineering solutions to address the continent’s challenges.
The shortlisted innovators are drawn from Sierra Leone, Angola (both countries making their first representation), Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon and South Africa.
The innovations selected are expected to ‘’provide engineering solutions crucial to UN Sustainable Development Goals- addressing water, healthcare, agriculture, education, food security, waste, and energy challenges’’.
According to the Royal Academy of Engineering: ‘’This year’s innovations include a treatment to convert acid mine drainage into drinking water, a portable aquaponics unit that uses fish waste to boost production of vegetables, a robotics learning tool for children, a remote healthcare monitoring system, and an ecofriendly cooking stove that absorbs black carbon’’- which is Mansaray’s innovation.
There are also motorbikes that run on batteries,electric cargo bike with a battery powered fridge to lessen post-harvest loss and a mobile machine that creates interlocking compressed earth bricks, among others.
‘’In mid-2023, four finalists will be chosen to pitch their innovations and business plans to Africa Prize judges at an event in Accra, Ghana. The winner will receive £25,000, and three runners up will win £10,000 each. An additional One-to-Watch award of £5,000 will be given to the most promising innovator’’, says the academy..
Mansaray, an energy practitioner and gender expert, created the Smart Green Stove to reduce the time girls and women spend cooking food, helping to mitigate energy poverty which is caused by energy poverty. Mansaray established Women in Energy, a Sierra Leone-based company, to launch her product and work to improve the lives of girls in her country.
Her stove comes with instructions for making Green Briquettes from trees like coconuts with high calorific content. The waste is carbonised by burning in a closed drum, then mixed with casava starch to bind it, before being left to dry. Green Briquettes last longer than charcoal, reducing energy consumption. The stove can also be operated with ordinary charcoal or wood, but requires less fuel.
She stated: “My team and I are working tirelessly to uplift women and girls by addressing time and energy poverty. This will allow them greater control of their productivity, because time is money. I’ve always been the only woman in a room full of men, and so one of my aims is to educate women and girls, specifically on the role engineering can play in improving their lives.”
The Africa Prize was launched in 2014 and is awarded annually by the Royal Academy of Engineering to ambitious African innovators creating local and scalable solutions to pan-African and international challenges. Innovators shortlisted for the Africa Prize will benefit from a unique package of support including business incubation, mentoring, fundraising and communications. The package also includes access to the Academy’s global network of high-profile and highly experienced engineers and business experts in the UK and Africa.
‘’This year’s shortlisted innovators join the Academy’s 134-strong Africa Prize alumni network’’, the academy says.
The 2022 winner was Norah Magero, who invented a portable solar-powered fridge solution for transporting medicines.
. Rebecca Enonchong ,founder and Chief Executive Officer of AppsTech and a Judge for the Africa Prize, said:“Climate change is impacting Africa more severely than other continents, with agricultural production, food security and water resources being compromised, compounded by a weak adaptive capacity. This year, 11 of our innovations are contributing directly to environmental sustainability.”
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, is the continent’s biggest prize ‘’dedicated to developing African innovators and helping them to maximise their impact. It gives commercialisation support to ambitious African innovators developing scalable engineering solutions to address local challenges, demonstrating the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development’’.
An eight-month period of tailored training and mentoring culminates in a showcase event where a winner, alongside three runners up will receive their various prizes.
The award is generously supported by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and The Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund.
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