Kenyan startup bags global award for innovation

Kenyan startup Kuza Biashara has beaten contenders at the World Summit Awards (WSA) to bag top prize in the Environment and Green Energy category.

The award recognises achievements of digital innovation that drive social impact around the world.

Kuza is a mobile first micro-learning platform offering youth, women and micro-entrepreneurs from informal communities opportunities to learn, connect and grow at scale “on their own terms and at their own convenience”.

The multi-facetted digital platform provides access to crop advisories, inputs, credit and market information on demand.

Under Kuza, a member of the rural community is chosen to become an “agri-entrepreneur” serving 200 farmers with packages of practices and agri-extension services via the portable digital kit.

This year, WSA selected 40 global winners from more than 400 nominations received from 182 participating countries competing in eight innovation categories.

The nominations for the WSA were reviewed by an international Jury, which looked at how effectively the digital innovation solves challenges in the 21st Century.

The contest focused on the content and the impact the competitors are having in their local communities.

WSA assembled international experts from all regions and fields to select the 40 winners.

The final jury phase concluded in an on-site three-day meeting in Accra, Ghana with 16 international high level expert deciding in “a democratic and transparent process” on the most powerful and content-rich solutions 2018.

Kuza will be honoured with the World Summit Award in the presence of UN representatives, ICT ministries and the private sector and will receive their Award at the World Summit Awards Global Congress in Cascais on Wednesday.