Kenyan innovators win Sh13 million in Mozilla Africa challenge

June 28, 2023 James Wambua

The winners will also get technical support to improve their goods and enter the market.
The goal of Mozilla Africa Innovation Challenge program is to solve problems in Africa using tech.
About 308 active tech start-ups in Kenya employ over 11,000 people.

Three tech start-ups: Getpayd, Deaf Elimu and Hali Halisi, and three student-led innovators—Classify Me, Audred and Mama Pesa—have received a total of Kes13 million in grants in the just concluded Mozilla Africa Innovation Challenge held in Nairobi.

The winners will also get technical support to improve their goods and establish a place in the market.

The program’s goal is to find African digital firms, entrepreneurs, and students that can gain from an acceleration program. The deal offers technical assistance, grants, and market links for their goods. The program also seeks to encourage innovation driven by and founded on the particular needs of consumers in Africa.

Nairobi played host to the first Mozilla Africa Mradi Innovation Challenge. Tech giant Mozillar partnered with Nairobi County government to orgnise the event.

“Nairobi City County Government is working with Mozilla Africa Mradi to ensure that tech start-ups and innovators get access to grants and are enabled to access venture capital investments locally and globally”, Governor Sakaja Johnson noted.

Mozilla Africa Mradi Innovation Challenge

Mozilla Africa Mradi Innovation Challenge was introduced in Nairobi in May. It sought to challenge tech innovators in the continent to come up with original solutions for particular African needs.

“From 2015 Mozilla has distributed over $20 million through fellowships and awards to support individual and collective actions that nurture unique innovations that benefit communities”, said Mitchell Baker, CEO and Chairwoman of Mozilla Corporation.

Over 11,000 Kenyans work in 308 tech start-ups in Kenya, the 2022 Kenya Start-Up Ecosystem Report by Disrupt Africa says. Only half of these start-ups, the majority of which are in the fintech sector, have undergone any kind of acceleration or incubation, the survey notes.

John Omo, the Secretary-General of the African Telecommunication Union noted, “advancing Africa’s digital economy is at the heart of ATU’s mandate. We work to create harmonized digital economies through standardized policy and regulatory frameworks for the African region.