NGO eyes green jobs creation as startups win Sh310,000

A Panafrican non-profit organisation Jacob‘s Ladder Africa is targeting to create 30 million green jobs by the year 2033. The organisation revealed this on Friday last week when its Greenlabs initiative hosted its demo day in Nairobi.

The day marked the culmination of the hackathon competition designed to inspire and engage young aspiring entrepreneurs.

Participants explored how renewable energy can transform food systems from production to consumption. The solutions ranged from energy-efficient farming techniques and renewable-powered food processing to sustainable transport and waste reduction through smart energy systems.

Finalist teams were drawn from various counties - Baringo, Busia, Homa Bay, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kisii, Kisumu, Lamu, Machakos, Makueni, Meru and Mombasa to present their innovative and scalable ideas aimed at building sustainable and resilient food systems powered by renewable energy. Others were Nakuru, Nyeri, Tranza Nzoia, Turkana, Uasin Gishu and Nairobi.

The startups benefited from mentorship and capacity-building sessions. “Youth unemployment is an issue that Jacob’s Ladder Africa seeks to address by creating 30 million job opportunities by 2033 for and by the youth, through the incubation programme,” said Jacob‘s Ladder Africa chief innovation officer Karen Chelang’at.

“Many start-ups fail within their first two years due to weak foundations and a lack of essential skills and resources. We aim to curb start-up mortality by addressing these challenges.” 

Some of the innovations showcased included Solar Compost IT, an in-vessel composting machine that transforms organic waste into compost, bio-fertiliser, and pellets, reducing methane emissions and decomposition time.

Others were NuRa, a clean, renewable innovation that harnesses concentrated solar power, CSP to generate steam to power large-scale kitchens, and Smart Hive Optimisation and TEAtrans, a solar-powered ventilated container.

The event also featured an expert judging panel comprising industry leaders, who evaluated the finalists’ solutions and selected the winners.

Participants had the chance to win monetary prizes in the form of pre-seed capital, ranging from Sh10,000 to Sh100,000.

In third place was Bettinah Maruti from iLoop KE and Logistics, an innovative solution addressing food spoilage. Second place went to Alfred Mutethia, Steven Mwaura, and Victor Gituma from Solar Nest, a poultry farming solution.

Urbanus Lubano from Empire Innovations won the grand prize of Sh200,000. In addition to these cash prizes, all finalists earned full sponsorship to join the nine-month Greenlabs incubation programme.