GCIP-SA Alumnus Wins the 2018 South African Chivas Venture
2017 Finalist of the GCIP-SA, Clement Mokoenene (Vehicle Energy Harvesting Systems) was announced the winner of the South African Chivas Venture competition, winning R350 000 towards his business.
A judging panel consisting of Lucas Radebe, Unathi Msengana and Stafford Massie selected Mokoenene from among 5 social entrepreneurs for his electricity generation solution, which utilises the pressure created by cars on a roads surface to generate electricity.
Among the Five Finalists of the 2018 Chivas Venture was 2015 GCIP-SA Semi-Finalist team, Solar Turtle, represented in the Chivas Venture by Lungelwa Tyali, COO and co-founder of Solar Turtle.
Clement will now attend a week-long accelerator programme at Oxford University and will then represent South Africa at the global finale of the Chivas Venture 2018 in Amsterdam, in May. He will compete against 28 other country winners for a share of US$1-million.
Vehicle Energy Harvesting Systems has also been nominated for the Innovative Technology of the Year Award 2018. The award will acknowledge a business that has achieved commercial success from advanced technology, research or developing products, services or solutions relevant to the energy or water sectors. The winner will be announced at the African Utility Week 2018 Industry Awards.
GCIP-SA Alumnus wins the African Entrepreneurship Award for Education
Louise Williamson, (Sustainability Professionals) winner of the GCIP-SA Impact for Social Innovation Award in 2016, has been announced as one of 12 winners of the 2017 African Entrepreneurship Award! Louise was awarded US$100,000 as the winner of the Education category.
She joined 40 other entrepreneurs from 19 countries from the continent in Casablanca, Morocco, during the second week of December 2017 for the Presidential Round of the award. During their time in Morocco the finalists underwent individualised training and received mentorship by global experts before pitching their businesses to a ‘Presidential Jury’ of business leaders and entrepreneurs who have scaled businesses on five continents.
Louise’s innovation, the fuel-efficient Mashesha Syngas Stoves, use biomass/wood fuel for large-scale cooking. (The fuel consumption of the Mashesha stoves is half that normally required for cooking on open fires.) The stoves are also much safer, reducing smoke through its use of a closed gasification process for combustion.
The criteria for each stage were: an idea that is most needed in the region (Round one), an idea most likely to succeed across Africa (Round two), an idea that could potentially be the most significant and sustainable in Africa (Round three) and an idea that will have the most plausible and probable impact (Presidential Round).
GCIP-SA Alumnus to represent South Africa at the 2018 FINE Festival
2016 Winner of the Youth Team Award, Sandiswa Qayi (AET Hotspot) was selected to represent South Africa at the Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in India 2018!
AET Hotspot has also been nominated for the Innovative Technology of the Year Award 2018, to be announced at the African Utilities Week 2018.