Congratulations to the Semifinalists of the Milken-Motsepe Prize in FinTech!
green energy hero

University of Cape Town: UCT graduates take home over R4.5m in Motsepe-backed prize

Omnivat, a renewable energy startup founded by five University of Cape Town (UCT) graduates, are the runners-up of a prestigious energy innovation competition backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe.

With a cash prize of $250 000 (R4.6 million), they set out to explore partnerships with healthcare facilities in the Eastern Cape as pilot sites for their project – essentially a power system consisting of solar panels, batteries, and hydrogen, pre-packaged in a shipping container. The innovative design creates a shaded marketplace that provides reliable power to users, even when the sun isn’t shining, News24 previously reported.

 

Read the full article here.

More News

News clips

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

Read More »
News clips

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.

Read More »