Congratulations to the Finalists of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech!
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IT WEB Africa: Milken-Motsepe prize green energy winners announced

The Milken Institute and the Motsepe Foundation have announced the winners of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy, a $2 million innovation competition designed to reward entrepreneurs seeking to increase access to dependable, cheap, and sustainable off-grid energy in Africa.

The awards were recently announced during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, USA.

Aftrak, a UK and Malawi-based venture, won the $1 million grand prize for its readily installed solar microgrid and custom-designed tractors, which tripled agricultural productivity, raised farmer earnings, and brought electricity to isolated communities.

Read the full article here.

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Engineering News: How an AgriTech Prize Helped Me Realise My Life’s Work

By: Diana Orembe – Founder and CEO of NovFeed When I was a child, I witnessed firsthand my uncle’s struggles as a fish farmer. Growing up on his farm, I saw the immense effort he put into his work, only to be met with financial challenges due to the high cost and inconsistent quality of the feed stock. I later learnt my uncle was not alone, and that African farmers across the spectrum faced similar productivity challenges. This inspired me to find a way to create meaningful change in the African agricultural sector. During my second year at university, while conducting research on the application of microbes as feed, I revisited fish farms and found that the same issues my uncle faced were still around, even ten to fifteen years later. Farmers were investing heavily in feed, often imported and expensive, which cut deeply into their profits. Seeing that these issues

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Vox Africa: Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech Announces 10 Semifinalists

The Milken Institute and the Motsepe Foundation announced the 10 teams advancing to the Semifinalist Round of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech (https://apo-opa.co/3Y0GSEY), with each team receiving $100,000 in funding.   Responding to a global call for applications, this prize supports innovative solutions to expand access to tools necessary for financial inclusion across emerging and frontier markets. The Semifinalists will participate in an Innovation Showcase at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit December 5-6, 2024, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. During this event, the 10 teams will pitch their innovations to a panel of expert judges and investors, and three teams will be selected to move on to the final round of the prize. The judges will evaluate the pitches based on the teams’ ability to deliver solutions that improve financial inclusion for under-resourced groups in emerging and frontier markets.   Read the full article here.

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