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COVID-19 INNOVATION CHALLENGE WINNERS
Startup Suit, a solution aimed at enabling Small and Medium Enterprises to effectively manage their operations remotely emerged tops in the recent Great COVID-19 Innovation challenge championed by Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) in partnership with the ICT industry players in Kenya.
Zinake a cloud-based platform that conveniently connects temporary workers to job opportunities in their locality at the click of a button came second with Garden fresh a localized agri-food system that provides year-round growing of food crops in urban areas came third. The solution aims at promoting urban access to sustainable and nutritious food crops.
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The competition attracted 316 from 47 counties, 53% of the submissions were focusing on health systems, 28% of the submission were on dignified work challenge while 19% of the submissions were on Food System innovation for Covid 19.
Speaking during the closing and award ceremony, Jerome Ochieng, Principal Secretary, Ministry of ICT & Innovation, Kenya said that “Over 300 innovations were submitted, 40 were shortlisted to proceed to the 48-hour hackathon session that ended over the weekend. This involved the teams going through a rigorous process on co-creation with their mentors, trainers and facilitators with the aim of coming up with innovations that meet the needs of the end-users.”
The government of Kenya through Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), partnered with the
Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs, private sector, academia, nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), to launch the Great Covid-19 Innovation challenge.
The great COVID-19 Innovation challenge was aimed at harnessing the creativity and innovation of Kenyans under three thematic areas of- Health Systems Innovation, Food Systems Innovation and Dignified Work. Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, the Government together with stakeholders from the private sector and academia have pulled together to find ways of mitigating the effects of the pandemic on the economy and its citizens.
