Tag: innovation

When young talents lead innovation and development in Africa

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“Solving Africa’s complex challenges will require innovative solutions including those developed by young inventors from the African continent. It is important that we create the necessary environment to discover them.”

Sixteen young African investors weree recently shortlisted as finalists of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.  While the overall winner and three runners up will receive cash funding, all the finalists will receive training and the mentoring they need to scale up their inventions and ultimately translate them into commercial products. The inventions that range from a vertical farm to an online vaccination platform to a device that can convert air into drinking water using solar technology, are bound to deliver practical solutions to Africa’s challenges, including food insecurity.

Indeed, Africa’s recurrent challenges can benefit from many inventions coming off the African continent. Moreover, Africa stands to make more headways when its young people, who represent 60 per cent of its current population, take the lead.

But to pave way for many more inventions from Africa’s young minds, the continent must invest in creating an environment that makes it easy to discoverer these inventors. So how can the African continent pave the way so that many more young inventors are discovered?

Beginning at a young age, when students are attending elementary and high schools, the African education system should make room for young students to be creative, problem solvers and critical thinkers. Currently, the education system, in many countries, including my native country Kenya, and South Africa, is poor quality and mostly focuses on content mastery. I know. The primary and high school I attended in Kenya, for example, focused on teaching theories and materials we needed to pass our national examinations. None of the teachers ever challenged my peers and me to think and create. It was all about mastering the contents and regurgitating them back in the exams. Further, we also lacked other resources including textbooks, libraries, science labs and other resources to help create a conducive environment.

Across Africa, stakeholders investing in education operate under the assumption that passing national examinations gauged by the grades students get is clear evidence that investments in education have paid off. The caveat to this approach is that it does not necessarily prepare students to be inventors or problem solvers and to meaningfully participate in developing our global world.

Moving forward, if Africa wants to reap the dividends of inventions by African students and its young minds, African schools should adopt action-oriented teaching approaches that hone critical thinking skills, creativity and innovation. Africa’s young minds should consistently be challenged to identify local problems, seek out relevant information and resources, and to design authentic plans and solutions to solve the challenges they have identified.

Once discovered, future inventors must be supported through training and mentoring. They must also be funded. Doing so will allow them to fully develop their inventions and translate them into products that offer solutions to the challenges many African citizens face.

The Royal Academy of Engineering prize of mentoring and training support and funding will definitely allow these innovators to translate their inventions into products and to scale up and widely disseminate them. The good news is that, presently, across Africa, there are several programs including The Anzisha Prize, Made in Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme and the Innovation Prize for Africa that are actively supporting, mentoring and funding  young African inventors.  This needs to continue.

Moreover, as we aim to pave the way for many African inventors to rise up, while strengthening the overall African innovation ecosystem, we must protect these ideas and ensure that people adhere to intellectual property rights. Before the young inventors’ ideas are shared, they should have the opportunity to trademark and protect them. At the moment, many African countries, research institutions, and universities and other institutions where inventions are born do not understand quite well how to manage intellectual property assets including knowing the available options when they want to protect and translate their inventions into commercial products for national, regional and international markets.

Eventually, when these inventions are translated into products, governments should create market opportunities for their products to ensure that they thrive. For example, government hospitals can buy and install the vertical gardens in hospitals, and these could be used to grow the food to feed patients. The Kenyan Government could use the Chanjo Plus online vaccination platform and roll it out across the country. Further, these inventors must be funded so that they can build industries that further support the production of the products they have created. Such support would further lead to economic empowerment and job creation by the youth and for the youth.

Solving Africa’s complex challenges will require innovative solutions including those developed by young inventors from the African continent. It is important that we create the necessary environment to discover them. Once discovered, we must nurture the inventors, celebrate them, support, and fund their ideas all the way, until they have products and companies to manufacture these products. It is the right thing to do.

Written by Dr Esther Ngumbi,  a distinguished post doctoral researcher at the Entomology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is also a food security fellow with the Aspen Institute New Voices.

When Investment in Refinery and Petrochemicals is driven by Innovation and Efficiency

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The ongoing investment in refining, petrochemicals, fertilizer, and gas is driven by the desire to bring innovation and efficiency into all aspects of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, the President/Chief Executive, Aliko Dangote has said.

Dangote, who made this disclosure yesterday at the ongoing Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, said the company is committed to the concept of energy efficiency and innovation in the oil and gas sector.

The business mogul, whose 650,000 barrels-per-day capacity refinery is the largest in Africa, was represented by the Group Executive Director, Government and Strategic Relations, Dangote Industries Limited (Dangote.com), Engr. Ahmed Mansur.

Addressing participants at the forum, Mansur said the theme of the conference, “Shaping the Future through Efficiency and Innovation”, was quite apt; given Nigeria’s quest for economic transformation.

According to him, Aliko Dangote is passionate about efficiency and innovation in the oil & gas sector through adding value to the hydrocarbon process.

Mansur said the company’s passion and drive is seen in the building of the project, which will become the world largest single train refinery on completion and therefore a boost to Nigeria’s economy.

He stated: “The Refinery can meet 100% of the domestic requirement of all liquid petroleum products (Gasoline, Diesel, Kerosene and Aviation Jet), leaving the surplus for export.

“This high volume of PMS output from the Dangote Refinery will transform Nigeria from a petrol import-dependent country to an exporter of refined petroleum products. The refinery is designed to accommodate multiple grades of domestic and foreign crude and process these into high-quality gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuels that meet Euro V emissions specifications, plus polypropylene”, he said.

Mansur disclosed that Dangote is also constructing the largest fertilizer Plant in West Africa with the capacity to produce 3.0 million tonnes of Urea per year as part of the gigantic economic transformation project. He explained that the Dangote Fertiliser complex consists of Ammonia and Urea plants with associated facilities and infrastructure.

“Nigeria will be able to save $0.5 billion from import substitution and provide $0.4 billion from exports of products from the fertilizer plant. Thus, supply of fertiliser from the plant, which is set for commissioning before the second quarter of 2019, will be enough for the Nigerian market and neighboring countries,” he added.

Speaking further, he said at a time when the oil and gas industry and the global economy is in a state of flux, it is most appropriate that attention should be given to the future especially given the incredible speed and quantum of change taking place in every facet of human endeavour.

“Our economy, in particular, cannot afford to ignore these massive changes. Our decades of dependence on this industry for our economic well-being and the urgent need for diversification has been widely recognized and is clearly the most critical challenge for our policymakers.

“But even as we seek to diversity from oil, and we are, indeed, making observable progress in this regard, we cannot ignore the need to continue to exploit this God-given resources in a more efficient and innovative manner,” he added.

He commended the Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for its unwavering support in Dangote’s quest to make Nigeria self-sufficient in the production of petroleum products.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Dangote Group.

How Can Research Support Rural Women Farmers and Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Africa?

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Winnie is an entrepreneur from Uganda who runs a successful business making probiotic yogurt and selling to other businesses and schools. When I heard her speak at a recent food security meeting in Ottawa, Canada, I learned that Winnie has not always been this successful.

Winnie’s family had always kept cattle, but most of the milk the cows produced was for consumption by the family. In 2014, Winnie received training from an organization called Yoba for Life on how to use freeze-dried bacteria to produce probiotic yogurt from her family cows’ milk, a practice that has been common in the Netherlands where Yoba for Life is based, but not in Africa. Research conducted by Yoba for Life and Heifer International developed the technology used by Winnie for producing and using freeze-dried bacteria to make yogurt in Uganda.

Winnie started selling the yogurt to neighbors and to the local shopping center. As sales increased, her family milk was not enough, and she started purchasing milk from other women farmers in her neighborhood. Soon, she teamed up with a few other women to start the Kiboga Ikamiro Women’s Group production facility. Using the new freeze-dried bacterial technology, they currently produce 150-200 liters of yogurt per day, earning USD 3500 per month. She has increased her cattle herd to 20 milking cows, employs 27 women and youth in the production facility and built a better house for her family.

Winnie is one of more than half a million women who has been involved in research projects funded under the Canadian Food Security Research Fund, a research program implemented in 24 countries over the last nine years by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and Global Affairs Canada. This program has been hugely successful at helping women, who often provide half of the agricultural labor but do not have the same land rights and access to income as men, improve their livelihoods.

It may be surprising to learn that a program focused on research can help rural women engaged in agriculture and agribusiness to thrive. When people hear of research, they often think of complex experiments done in laboratories by serious looking scientists in white lab coats working on things only they understand. But research can have very practical implications in the lives of people.

I have been a researcher for 20 years now, and I have seen the power of research and innovation in transforming the lives of women like Winnie.

First, research can help identify and develop innovations that enable women to add value to their products and thereby increase their incomes. In Nigeria and Benin, the production of indigenous vegetables has been hampered by low consumption and lack of markets for smallholder farmers. Through several years of research, researchers found new ways and technologies for producing wine and syrups, in addition to the more traditional products such as bread, to add value to these vegetables. Women increased their incomes from indigenous vegetables by over 120 percent.

Second, research can find ways of reducing the drudgery of food production and processing for women. Of the 250 million tons of crops grown in sub-Saharan Africa in 2012, a total of 75 percent were grown by smallholder farmers and these were weeded by hand. Between 50 and 70 percent of these farmers’ time was spent on weeding, and 90 percent of women smallholder farmers carry out this task themselves. In India, processing one bag of millet can take up to two days. As a result, the consumption of millet, a crop that is highly nutritious and has the potential to contribute to better nutrition is rarely consumed in India.  Through research, scientists developed a threshing machine that reduces the time it takes to thrash a bag of millet to two or three hours. As a result, women entrepreneurs using the technology increased their income from US$1800 to US$4500 per annum, close to a three-fold increase.

Third, innovations from research can increase the nutrition and health of women. In the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, 50 million women and 15 million children suffer from anemia. A new technology that encapsulates salt with iron and iodine has led to the local production of double fortified salt in the state. Between 2014 and 2017, 40,000 metric tonnes of double fortified salt were distributed through India’s public distribution system with 85% of the targeted households purchasing and using the salt on a regular basis. The use of double fortified salt has led to a decline in the prevalence of iron deficiency from 23 to 9 percent.

Finally, research can illuminate the financial needs of women smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs and facilitate the development of appropriate products and access to these products. In Bolivia, researchers working with the Insitucion Financiera De Desarrollo increased the understanding of the fisheries sector by the financial company, leading to dthe evelopment of financial products that suited the needs of women in the sector. Between 2015 and 2017, US$ 1.9M was loaned to women entrepreneurs in the sector with an average loan size of US$ 6000.

For research to work for women, women must be engaged as researchers, producers, business owners, consumers so that they can set their priorities and contribute to the development of innovations that best suit their needs and priorities.

Dr. Jemimah Njuki is a Senior Program Specialist at Canada’s International Development Centre where she works on gender and women’s empowerment. She is an Aspen New Voices 2017 fellow. Follow her @jemimah_njuki

KAOMBO: AN INNOVATIVE ULTRA-DEEP-WATER OFFSHORE PROJECT IN ANGOLA

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Angola and Total inaugurated a new deep-sea oil field worth $ 16 billion on Saturday.

This is expected to boost the production of the African nation since the fall in crude prices that plunged its economy into crisis in 2014.

Located 250 km off the capital Luanda, the Kaombo project is the largest offshore operation ever launched in Angola.

For the first time in the world, a network of more than 300 kilometers of tubes was laid up to 2,000 meters under the sea to raise hydrocarbons on the surface.

The first of the two ships, Kaombo Norte, produced its first oil last July.  The other, Kaombo Sul is expected by mid 2019.

Eventually, they must produce 230,000 barrels a day, or 15% of the country’s current production for total reserves estimated at 660 million barrels.

‘‘Kaombo opens a new chapter in Total’s commitment to Angola. It will produce 230,000 barrels of oil per day on a plateau basis and will enable Total to maintain world production of 600,000 barrels per day by 2023, or 40% more or less of the country’s production. So let me be clear, Minister of State ( Manuel Nunes Júnior), the future of our company is deeply linked to the future of your country’‘, said CEO of Total, Patrick Pouyanne.

The project is led by the French group, Total in partnership with the Angolan national company Sonangol, Sinopec from China, Esso, the United States and Portugal’s Galp.

Total produces 40% of the crude oil extracted from Angola, the second largest supplier of sub-Saharan Africa behind Nigeria.

In the early 2000s, Angola experienced a period of very strong double-digit growth fueled by oil. But in 2014, the sharp drop in crude prices, which sold 90% of its exports and 70% of its revenue, pushed the country into recession and brought down the national currency.

The price of the barrel reached its highest in four years last month but has recently fallen.

Angolan President Joao Lourenço, elected in 2017 after thirty-eight years of Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s reign, has promised the country an “economic miracle” that has been triggered by the revival of its oil production.

Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum, Diamantino Azevedo said “our goal is to maintain production, the government has pledged that this figure will not decline during its term”.

AFP

FinTech to contribute $150 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2022

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The contribution of the financial-technology industry to sub-Saharan Africa’s economic output will increase by at least $40 billion to $150 billion by 2022, according to Financial Sector Deepening Africa, a development-finance organization.

The industry currently employs about 3 million people directly and indirectly in the region, FSD Africa Financial Markets Director Evans Osano said in an interview last month.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product is about $1.6 trillion, according to data compiled by the International Monetary Fund.

“If you look at the value chain, most of that money is coming out of mobile-phone companies,” Osano said. “So from the other support services the contribution is not much, but is expected to increase as fintech develops to address the financial needs of people or making services more accessible.”

Safaricom Plc, East Africa’s biggest mobile-network operator, developed one of the world’s first mobile phone-based money transfer services, and says 88 percent of its almost 30 million customers now use it. About 21 percent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa have a mobile-money account, nearly twice the share in 2014 and the highest of any region in the world, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex Data.