[imagesource:africaprize.org.uk]
A South African entrepreneur who created a smart locker system that improves access to healthcare was awarded a major prize for African engineering.
Neo Hutiri created Pelebox, a system of internet-enabled lockers that administer medicine for chronic diseases to patients, reducing wait times and relieving demand on hospital resources.
The UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering gave him £50,000 (R1.1 million) and a medal, which was delivered by King Charles III’s sister Princess Anne during a ceremony in London on Wednesday evening.
The Academy’s annual Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation awards entrepreneurs who have developed technology to address local issues on the continent, ranging from increasing access to power to adapting to climate change.
Hutiri initially received the Africa Prize for his lockers in 2019, while running a trial programme for the Pelebox idea. Since then, the startup has grown substantially, with the invention currently being utilised at 123 healthcare institutions across South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. He now hopes the prize money will help to “catalyse” the company’s growth.“Winning the Africa prize helped open a lot of doors, gave us good recognition, changed a lot of ‘noes’ into ‘yesses’ and ultimately gave us the audience we’re looking for.”
“We want to see Pelebox operating across six countries and this award will position us to build the right team, enhance our product and enable us to continue reaching and creating value for patients that are spending hours and hours in clinics in southern Africa.”
According to Cameroonian technology entrepreneur and prize judge Rebecca Enonchong, “The goal of the Africa Prize is to help scale up engineering innovations and maximize their impact. It’s also an opportunity to showcase African talent to the rest of the world”.
We want investors to start to believe that they can also make money by investing in African startups.
“There isn’t enough funding available for African startups,” she told CNN. “We don’t want all the funding to come in the form of grants, as we see in the Africa Prize. We want investors to start to believe that they can also make money by investing in African startups. But sometimes, in order for those investors to know that these startups exist, an Africa Prize becomes necessary to give those startups the visibility they need to attract investment.”
Africa, and in particular South Africa, just keeps shining on the world stage.
source:cnn]
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