Seven African startups have been selected as finalists for the 2024 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW), the prestigious international accelerator of hardware-led social innovation.
Hosted every year by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the ISHOW takes place in Nairobi, Kenya on June 19.
The finalists, whose innovations provide affordable, sustainable hardware technology solutions to agricultural, building, energy, healthcare, transportation, and waste challenges, will pitch for a share of US$30,000 in grant awards and technical support to help bring their impactful innovations to market.
They include Kenyan ventures Adumu, which has developed a biodiesel-fueled institutional cooking system, and Megagas Alternative Energy Enterprise, which converts plastic waste into clean cooking gas. Uganda is represented by Che Innovations, which has developed a warming device for preventing neonatal hypothermia during ambulance transportation, and Neosave Technologies, which produces a wearable medical device designed for clinicians to continuously monitor sick newborns admitted to care.
Also selected are Tanzania’s Afya Lead, which has developed a patented, non-invasive, affordable device designed to address postpartum hemorrhage (PPH); Ghana’s MeSADA, which has produced a five-row staple grain precision seeder; and Zambia’s Yaaka Investment, which develops a non-emission, portable bin that works to reduce harmful waste.
