Six Open Skies Fellows Showcased Tech Solutions During Innovation Week Tanzania 2022
By Editha Mwanyika
This year, Open Skies Fellows took part in Innovation Week Tanzania 2022, which was held in 16 regions from the 20th to the 23rd of May. OSF fellows showcased their projects in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Zanzibar, where the booth was visited by a variety of participants including government officials, donors, funders, hubs, and other attendees.
The event provided a venue for the fellows to showcase their projects, gain visibility, and network with various actors in the innovation community. For example, one of the fellows, Tarsila Mellita from Mwanza, competed in a pitching competition organized by SIDO with 10 other young innovators from various universities in Mwanza, emerging as the winner and receiving the opportunity to be incubated at SIDO T-led Hub. She demonstrated her Mellita Machine, which can burn 1500 sanitary pads per hour using electricity as a power source.
The Open Skies Fellows’ project drew a lot of attention from the media houses who came to learn about the fellows’ projects, conduct interviews, and write stories about the various solutions that these young innovators are developing such as drones for irrigation, devices for remote farm management, automated standing wheelchair, recycled power backup system, and sanitary pads disposal machine.
26 fellows from Tanzania and Rwanda have so far been enrolled in Open Skies Fellows, working on various technological ideas to address community problems. This is why events like these are so important for involving them in various strategic activities like panel discussions, exhibitions, and pitching contests where they can share and present their innovations, gain visibility, and possibly discover collaborators or investors who can help them scale their concepts.
Open Skies Fellowship welcomes partnerships and collaborations with organizations that share the common goal of assisting African youth in innovation and emerging technology. We are open to invitations or recommendations for events that provide a platform for fellows to share their innovative solutions. If you have any, please contact us at editha.Mwanyika@openskiesfellows.org or through our social media platforms.
To learn more about Open Skies Fellows, please visit our website https://openskiesfellows.org/.
