Three Nigerian innovators have been shortlisted for the 2023 Africa Engineering Innovation Prize | So Good News

For its 9th edition, three Nigerian innovators out of 15 African innovators have been shortlisted for 2023. Royal Academy of Engineering of Great Britain Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation (APEI).

The 15 innovators selected from ten African countries are tackling key challenges of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including quality education, clean water and sanitation, sustainable cities and communities, good health and well-being, and clean energy.

Founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the African Engineering Innovation Award is Africa’s largest award, dedicated to encouraging, celebrating and rewarding innovation and engineering entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides critical commercialization support to ambitious African innovators developing large-scale engineering solutions to local challenges. The work of these entrepreneurs demonstrates the importance of engineering science in improving the quality of life and enabling economic development.

Get acquainted Shortlisted Nigerian Innovators:

Chukwuemeka Eze

Chukwuemeka Eze Electric Mobility has developed an e-mobility service that converts gas-powered tricycles to battery-powered ones and saves up to 60% on running costs.

This e-mobility service includes lithium-ion batteries, an AC asynchronous motor, a conversion shaft, and an electronic controller that acts as an inverter.

Eze and his team study the engines of various motorcycles and then develop specifications to adjust the gears and replace part of the engine with an electric motor. Excess parts are removed, the battery is attached to the chassis of the bike, and the car is repainted.

Tolulope Olukokun

Tolulope Olukokun ThinkBikes has created the CoolMAX, an electric cargo bike with a battery-powered refrigerator to help smallholder farmers in Nigeria get their fresh produce to market.

ThinkBikes CoolMAX helps solve rotting of fresh produce in hot weather when transported in wet bags or in open tents and trailers. This three-wheeled vehicle and cooling unit is powered by separate removable packs of recycled lithium-ion batteries taken from old laptop computers for secondary use.

Olukokun’s goal is to accelerate Nigeria’s transition to renewable energy and sustainable transport, which will significantly impact smallholder farmers and traders struggling to expand their operations in response to the climate crisis and rising fuel prices.

Cletus Ecpoh

Cletus Ekpoh has developed the Waste-to-Wealth Enhancer, a four-part recycling system that helps informal waste pickers.

The first part uses self-generated heat to convert polyethylene into plastic so that it doesn’t end up in polyethylene or in the oceans. The second part is a machine that grinds hard plastic waste such as buckets, seats, battery cases, barrels and bottles, and the flakes are used to make new plastic products. The third unit is an extrusion machine that makes tubular plastic film from the pellets produced in the first unit. The fourth unit is a hand-operated compressor that crushes aluminum cans to 10% of their original size, making castings, molds, clamps, etc. facilitates the storage and transportation of waste for casting.

This year’s shortlisted entrepreneurs join the Academy’s network of 134 Africa Prize alumni,
it includes innovators who have achieved significant commercial success and social impact
By continent after participating in the prize.

Eight months of dedicated training and mentoring for the 16 shortlisted entrepreneurs culminates in a showcase event. The winner will receive £25,000, while the three runners-up will receive £10,000 each. The most promising innovator will be awarded an additional one-time prize of £5,000.

See the full list of the 2022-2023 shortlisted cohort here.