Next week sees the conclusion of the 2021 Gauteng Accelerator Programme Innovation Competition hosted by The Innovation Hub.
The competition will conclude in a virtual event on 24th February where winners will receive a share of seed funding, cash prizes as well as incubation services with technical and business mentors.
This comes after a year-long business education programme that includes training in areas such as strategy, product pricing methodology as well as pitching and presentation skills.
The 36 finalists have been selected by a panel of judges. Finalists are placed into four categories based on their solutions or product. These categories are:
- GAP Green: Run in collaboration with the South African Climate Innovation Centre South Africa. The competition seeks emerging entrepreneurs developing green technology solutions related to energy security, water management, waste and sanitation, sustainable mobility and food security.
- GAP Biosciences: Run in partnership with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), and in collaboration with Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, Georgia. The programme assists scientists and entrepreneurs to pursue commercially viable opportunities for their cutting-edge bioscience technologies. The focused sectors are Agro-processing and health (pharma and cosmeceuticals).
- GAP ICT: Aims to identify researchers and entrepreneurs working on ICT-based solutions to our country’s biggest challenges, from internet of things, artificial intelligence to mobile applications used in education. This year emphasis will be on technologies and services which reflect The Internet of Things (IoT)
- GAP Medical: Run in partnership with Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the competition focuses on identifying and nurturing health innovations that will contribute to the improvement of health service delivery within hospitals, it looks specifically at medical technologies and hospital processes.
The finalists in the competition as well as their innovations can be found here [PDF].
Some of our highlights are Mat JZN Trading created by Matilda Rakabe which manufactures the Mat Hygenic Toilet Lid. This toilet lid is designed to prevent the transfer of infections via a toilet.
Agri-Health operated by Vuyani Emmanuel Ndlovu uses tech to help farmers identify issues with livestock, track their location, monitor their health and more.
There is also a mobile wallet called Wakoomula. This contactless payment solution allows merchants to transact with customers without cash, cards or EFT payments. Wakoomulla has created a platform where customers can pay or buy in their local spaza
shops, hair salons and street hackers via the application and USSD for non smartphone users.
“We have been highly impressed by the 2021 cohort of GAP Innovation Competition candidates, who have all demonstrated the depth of innovative ideas and ingenuity that our country has to offer. It has been a privilege to watch them thrive and participate in our business basics programme to prepare for their journey ahead even amidst the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. We expect to see great things from them in the future,” says The Innovation Hub chief executive officer, Pieter Holl
“I would particularly like to applaud our finalists for their hard work and dedication shown during the programme. Their creativity and resilience are truly inspirational, with diverse and disruptive businesses that hold enormous potential to become the market leaders of tomorrow,” he concludes.
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
