WestMac Media : Mawano Kambeu Scoops Second Place Award of the 2014 GIST Tech-I competition

Monday 24 November 2014

Mawano Kambeu Scoops Second Place Award of the 2014 GIST Tech-I competition

By Winston Muleba II, Zambia

GIST officially announced the prize winners of the 2014 GIST Tech-I competition.

Out of the fifteen finalist in the startup category of the GIST Tech-I competition, Mawano Kambeu won the second place award. His startup has developed a way for the Zambians to reserve and pay for bus travel with their smart phones, computers or third-party sellers like the post office.

Kambeu, 31, is also the founder and Managing Director of DotCom Zambia.

Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) empowers young innovators through networking, skills building, mentoring, and access to financing to develop startup solutions that address economic and development challenges. Since 2011, GIST has engaged with more than 2.8 million innovators and entrepreneurs worldwide, and mentored over 4,500 startups that have generated more than $80 million in revenue.

The GIST Tech 2014 competition attracted 500 applications from 61 countries. However after expert review, GIST brought together its finalists from 23 countries around the world.

The semi-finalists received over 400,000 votes globally to determine the 30 finalists who pitched in the Innovation Village over two days of the GES.

David Gluckman won the first place award for a competitor in the startup phase. Gluckman is a 26 year old male from South Africa whose startup Lumkani has developed a low-cost fire detection device and early-warning integrated alert service leveraging off mobile network platforms. The device and service will be sold to slum-dwellers in high-density slums across the globe to mitigate the loss of life and property thus increasing human safety and security.

Mixon Faluweki, a 24 year old male from Malawi, won the first place award for a startup in the idea phase. His innovation, the Padoko charger, uses a bicycle dynamo to charge cellphones while the user is cycling between locations. This diminishes the need to pay for charging stations and brings mobile access to rural areas.

The full list of winners of the 2014 Tech-I Competition:

Idea Stage Awards:

· 1st Place Idea Stage: Mixon Faluweki, Padoko, Malawi

· 2nd Place Idea Stage: Cynthia Ndubuisi, Kadosh Production Company, Nigeria

· 3rd Place Idea Stage: Alim Khamitov, Dozor, Kazakhstan

Startup Stage Awards:

· 1st Place Startup Stage: David Gluckman, Lumkani, South Africa

· 2nd Place Startup Stage: Mawano Kambeu, Bus Tickets Zambia, Zambia

· 3rd Place Startup Stage: Edmund Ainebyona, Cipher256, Uganda

Honorable Mentions:

· Agriculture Honorable Mention: Juan Carlos Guaqueta, AcuaCare, Colombia

· Energy Honorable Mention: Dilmurod Eshmuradov, UzSolar, Uzbekistan