Team BEDMOT- Lira, emerged as the winner of USD $ 9,500 at the Inaugural Afrinnovate Youth Challenge against teams from South Africa and Cote d’Ivoire.
Red Heart from Cote d’Ivoire developed an innovative application for managing blood donations, Transcendence from South Africa an IT-based company developed solutions to eliminate paper usage, contributing to a more sustainable and tech-driven future while Uganda’s BetMot innovated solutions in environmental sustainability by creating bricks from used plastics, offering a novel solution to the plastic waste problem.
JA Uganda, operating under the Regional Operating Center JA Africa, in partnership with the Z Zurich Foundation (ZZF), a Swiss-based charitable foundation hosted an awards ceremony for the winning participants 2023, alongside the launch event for the second cycle of the Social Equity Project 2024.
The JA Social Equity Program (SEP) positively impacted the lives of over 10,000 direct beneficiaries in three countries last year. Delivered through dynamic boot camps, interactive seminars, and workshops, both in-person and via JA Africa’s Digital
Entrepreneurship Education Program (JA DEEP), the program has catalyzed the creation of nearly 500 social enterprises. Participating teams present their pitch to a team of judges that selects the best 10 each winning a cash prize of USD 500. The ten are then invited for a physical pitching session. In this cycle the overall best (Bedmot) received a cash prize of USD 3000, followed by Squamous 2000 and Asome 1000 . The national winning team then represents the country at Africa level. In this cycle Bed mot emerged the team with the best innovative idea at Africa winning USD 1000 and also overall best, winning USD 5000.
“I didn’t finish school, I used to make bricks using traditional methods that use soil and firewood—practices that destroy land meant for farming. Now, we have discovered a new way to make bricks that protects our land and uses plastic waste. our mission is to turn Lira’s waste into wealth and save our trees, for a cleaner, greener future for us all”.Thank you,
Junior Achievement Uganda, JA Africa, ZZurich Foundation and JA worldwide” Huron – The team leader BEDMOT and winner Afrinnovate Challenge.
JA Uganda and its partners goal is to impact the lives of more than 500,000 youth by the end of the three-year partnership. With youth unemployment rates soaring, the urgency to empower young people to be innovative job creators rather than job seekers has never been more crucial. In Africa, where twelve million youth compete for only three million jobs annually, initiatives like SEP are paramount in addressing this pressing issue.
To apply https://jauganda.org/social-equity-program/ For any inquiries or additional
information, please contact: JA Uganda- 0701449578,Email info@jauganda.org
