Startups + Innovations
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Monitor
- Solafam Uganda has unveiled a groundbreaking AI-powered comic content feature in its Lyn AI platform, aimed at helping illiterate farmers access modern agricultural training. With Lyn AI's new feature, farmers can now receive comic-style visual training directly through WhatsApp, one of the most widely used platforms in rural communities.
- World Bank
- A woman engineer took advantage of TREEP to build a successful business providing fishing communities around Lake Victoria with low-cost, environmentally friendly tools to improve sardine harvest and processing. Her innovative solutions have allowed local fishermen to cut costs by 40% and improved the working conditions of the women in charge of drying the sardines.
- Disrupt Africa
- Founded in 2018, Koolboks is committed to sustainable, affordable, and energy-efficient refrigeration solutions for off-grid communities. The company designs and builds solar-powered refrigerators, which operate on a flexible lease-to-own model using pay-as-you-go (PAYG) technology, eliminating the need for substantial upfront costs.
- Norman Karamaga
- Tanzania based startup Chaja Africa, a Fellow of Startup|Energy, provides accessible and sustainable energy solutions through power bank rental services. Read in this article from Co-Founder Norman Karamaga how Chaja Africa wants to significantly improve the affordability of its products for local customers by cooperating with a local bank.
- Sun-Connect
- For street food vendors, the daily routine can be challenging: cooking at home, transporting food, keeping it warm for hours, and relying on charcoal, which is not only costly but also harmful to both the environment and their health. Enter the Halisi Trolley: an innovative solar and bioethanol-powered cooking solution that is transforming the entire street food industry.
- Tech in Africa
- Over the past decade, USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) invested more than $100 million in Kenyan startups, fostering innovations in healthcare, agriculture, and clean energy. With the shutdown, many promising ventures have now lost the opportunity for vital support.
- New Vision
- The MakSol Cooker is an indoor cooking appliance that is 100% powered by solar panels and solar batteries. Since they are highly optimised for low voltage, a home with just one or two solar panels can prepare three to five meals a day. This makes it an environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to traditional cooking methods.
- How we made it in Africa
- Teddy Ruge, founder and CEO of Raintree Farms, runs a moringa-growing and processing business in Masindi, Uganda. Moringa, a nutrient-rich superfood, has global demand – but Ruge’s journey has been anything but smooth, navigating halted contracts, geopolitical fallout, and other unexpected challenges.
- The China-Global South Project
- An electric revolution is taking hold, and at its center is KIRI EV, a Nairobi-based startup leveraging Chinese technology to assemble affordable electric bikes tailored for the Kenyan market. Kiri EV also is a fellow of Startup|Energy.
- Modern Ghana
- As a young founder with a passion for sustainability, I have had the privilege of leading SahanTech Solutions, a solar energy manufacturing startup born in 2024. In just under a year, we've reached milestones that once felt like distant dreams: a $1.6 million valuation, entry into the seed funding stage, and a prestigious listing in the ENF Solar global directory.
- Press Reader
- Manica Bikes (Zimbabwe) has launched innovative solar-powered tricycles to promote green technologies and sustainable transportation. Manica Bikes said it invested US$500 000 into the project for the entire production cycle of the tricycles, from the initial design and manufacturing phases to shipping, assembly, and ultimately, reaching the end-user.
- Tech in Africa
- Women entrepreneurs are transforming Africa’s energy landscape, addressing the challenge of 520 million people living without power. These startups combine clean energy solutions with local empowerment, creating jobs and improving lives. Here’s a quick look at 10 standout women-led renewable energy ventures:
- Disrupt Africa
- Founded in 2021 to address the pressing healthcare access issues in remote and underserved regions of Chad and across Africa, Telemedan deploys solar-powered telemedicine kiosks equipped with diagnostic tools like ECGs, stethoscopes, oximeters, and ultrasound probes. For now only operating in Chad, the startup plans to expand to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Good News Network
- By clearing municipal waste and helping rural children study after dark, the bags won the backing of the United Nations Development Program for their problem-solving potential. Soma Bags employs 85 rural workers to satisfy a demand for 13,000 backpacks a month. They can’t meet it, but they do their best.
- Tech in Africa
- Africa generates 2.9 megatons of e-waste annually, with only 20% recycled globally. Several African startups are addressing this growing challenge by recycling and repurposing batteries, creating solutions for energy storage, reducing waste, and supporting local industries.