One of four African innovators will go home with GBP 50,000 (an equivalent of KES 8,612,507.20) on Thursday October 16, 2025 when they win the Africa Prize for Engineering 2025, in Dakar.
The other three finalists will receive GBP 10,000 each, and an additional GBP 5,000 prize will be awarded to ‘One to Watch’ from among the other submissions.
The Africa Prize, touted as one of the most valuable for startups on the continent was started and is sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). it awards engineering innovation and impactful entrepreneurship. Apart from the cash prize, the annual contest provides long-term support for innovators through funding, training, and networking opportunities.
The four innovators include two Kenyans, a Ugandan and a Ghanaian. They were picked from a shortlist of 16 entrepreneurs whose startups were considered to make the most impact with ability to scale.
In 2024, Farmer Lifeline from Kenya won the top prize.
Africa Prize for Engineering 2025 Finalists
The finalists for this year are Elly Savatia and Carol Ofafa from Kenya, Frank Owusu from Ghana, and Vivian Arinaitwe from Uganda.
Elly Savatia is the creator of Terp 360, a groundbreaking app designed to support people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. The app uses AI and 3D avatars to translate speech into sign language with lifelike fluidity, setting it apart from other tools on the market.
The app incorporates motion picture technology and includes common words and phrases in the over 2,300 signs so that users feel like they are relating with a huma-like character. Cultural relevance is also a key factor in the interpretation and translation app that aims to make learning environments more inclusive.
Even though plans are still underway to deploy this technology to the public after classroom piloting, Terp 360 is already set up at t Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering.
The second Kenyan in the race for top prize, Carol Ofafa’s innovation is a battery swapping service that aims to provide convenient and accessible amenity for EV users. It is no surprise as Kenya is among the leading clean energy innovative countries and leads the way in the adoption of electric mass transport buses and electric motorcycles.
The engineer’s innovation dubbed E-Safari mainly addresses the lack of home charging infrastructure in rural areas where many households lack electricity. Using Kisumu city as a launch pad, E-Safari now has four hubs, each of them running on solar energy while using IoT-enabled batteries that deliver real-time updates, allowing for proactive maintenance.
A central dashboard tracks energy use across sites, optimising efficiency and cutting costs. Beyond mobility, E-Safiri ensures surplus energy supports local communities: charging hubs double as power centres for households without electricity.
By providing charging and swapping cabinets for electric bicycle and motorbike batteries, E-Safiri eliminates the need for personal charging setups.
From Ghana, Frank Owusu who terms himself as an ‘aquapreneur’, has developed Aquamet, a smart water quality monitoring device that is helping smallholder farmers to reduce fish mortality and boost yields.
Sustainability and profitability s at the core of the innovation as farmers using the device already report yield increases of 10–15%. In normal circumstances, the farmers would be losing up to 45% of their fish.
Owusu’s device contains three critical sensors that track pH, dissolved oxygen, and water temperature, all of which are key factors for fish health.
When water quality deteriorates, it sends real-time notifications and actionable recommendations directly to the farmer’s mobile phone. The platform also offers record-keeping tools, access to extension services, and a marketplace linking farmers with buyers.
Finally, Vivian Arinaitwe from Uganda is solving a medical problem experienced during ambulance transfers. She developed Neo Nest, a portable, low-cost, neonatal warming and monitoring device designed to prevent neonatal hypothermia during ambulance transfers from rural health facilities to referral hospitals.
Neo Nest acts as a compact, makeshift incubator that generates and regulates heat through an electric circuit with real time monitoring of vital indicators.
LED lights in the device can alert caregivers about the malfunctions or failures as well as success by displaying the relevant colours denoting each circumstance: red for danger, orange for warning, and green for safe.
The biomedical engineer has ensured even babies are catered for as the device has an adjustable ring and Velcro straps to keep the baby securely in place.
A smart temperature control system that is integrated through a microcontroller maintains optimum temperatures through a feedback loop that adjusts to environmental changes.
“Heat-conducting fluid evenly distributes warmth, ensuring that even the most vulnerable infants remain stable and comfortable during transfer.”
“Our four finalists this year illustrate the power of engineering and technology to improve lives through innovation in so many crucial sectors, including neonatal healthcare, enhanced sign language translation, sustainable agriculture, energy and transport for rural communities. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to follow each of their journeys through the Africa Prize programme and we look forward to selecting the winner from this inspiring group of entrepreneurs.”
~ Rebecca Enonchong FREng, Chair of the Africa Prize judging panel.
Exchange rate on October 13, 2025 on xe.com
1 GBP = 172.250 KES
1 KES = 0.00580551 GBP
