Two Ghanaian agritech startups are going to compete with some other startups in Africa for the regional finals of the 2019 ASME ISHOW by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The two startups are SAYeTECH and Sesi Technologies.
At the finals, all the startups are going to showcase the prototype designs of their products. And these prototypes are going to be judged as part of the final round of the regional contest. The final regional competition will happen in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
The ASME ISHOW is touted as the only global competition for hardware inventors with a social purpose. Thus, all the startups in the competition have some hardware they’ve developed.
SAYeTECH is going to showcase its “Multi-crop Thresher”, which reduces grain waste. Sesi Technologies is also going with its “GrainMate Grain Moisture Meter”. This equipment helps grain farmers reduce post-harvest losses by making it easier to accurately measure grain moisture content before storage.
The other 6 startups in the competition come from Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa. Coming from South Africa is hearX Group, which is bringing its “hearScope” to be judged. From Kenya are: E Tuk Tuk; Safi Organics; Solar Freeze; and Savanna Circuit Tech showing its “MaziwaPlus Pre-Chiller”. The last one from Kampala, Uganda, is breastIT.
These startups are competing for the top three grand prizes. The winners of the competition will share funds worth $30,000. They will also get tickets to the ISHOW Bootcamp coming up in New York.
Judges of 2019 ASME ISHOW
Judges and advisors for the 2019 ASME ISHOW regional finals are:
- Kamau Gachigi, Executive Director, Gearbox,
- Robert Karanja, Co-founder and CEO, Villgro Kenya,
- June Madete, Professor, Kenyatta University,
- Tom Odoyo, Product Development Engineer, Toyota Kenya Ltd., Hino Division
- Sylvia Mukasa, Founder & CEO, GlobalX Investments Ltd/GlobalX Innovation Labs.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is a not-for-profit professional organization that facilitates collaboration, skill development and knowledge sharing within all engineering disciplines. ASME, through programmes like the ISHOW, helps engineers to develop sustainable solutions to real world problems.