Three finalists share shs150M in Total’s 2019 innovation challenge

Total Uganda has announced the three finalists and winners for their second edition of the Startupper of the year challenge.

The Startupper challenge is aimed at supporting the best innovators in the country.

Over the weekend, the three finalists and winners including Sylivia Kyomuhendo, Vincent Nemeyimana and Anorld Mugaga were unveiled at a function held at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

These had been selected by a jury of local experts.

Speaking at the function, Total Uganda Managing Director Obi Imemba said the criteria for participation in this year’s edition around age, nationality, and the project age, community impact of the project, its potential and feasibility.

“We received a number of good projects but we had to choose only the best three. We hope they can go on to grow and employ more people as well as transforming society using funds from the Startupper of the year,”Imemba said.

He said that in addition to the financial support, the top 3 winners will get “heightened” exposure, networking opportunities, media and public relations support and coaching.

The female entrepreneur will get coaching, mentoring and access to networks and partnerships,

The three finalists will share the total prize of shs150 million in which the winner will get shs75 million, 45 million for first runners up and 30 million for the second runners up.

The three winning projects

Anold Mugaga’s seat pack which is a schoolbag that performs the duties of a desk by turning into a chair with a writing pad.

The seat pack is built for school children between ages 5 and 13 whose classrooms especially in rural and conflict areas have no furniture.

On the other side, Sylivia Kyomuhendo’s infants health foundation project uses mobile nurses to avail free, quality and timely home based maternal-child healthcare services to mothers in remote villages of Uganda for those who face difficulties to reach out to health facilities throughout pregnancy.

Vincent Nemeyimana’s Swap Africa project is an online platform that allows all users including individuals and businesses to exchange or share resources like goods, skills and services among themselves without necessarily using money.

It is a modernized form of online barter trade.