Africa50 unveiled on Tuesday, the winners of the first edition of its Innovation Challenge, which aimed at sourcing innovative solutions, to help increase access to reliable and affordable internet connectivity in under-served areas across Africa.
The announcement was made during an interactive session dedicated to the Innovation Challenge, organized in partnership with Informa, at the ongoing Africa Tech Festival.
Poa! Internet, a Kenya-based Internet Services Provider providing wireless high-speed broadband to homes and SMEs in low income and semi-rural areas, emerged as the winner of the innovation challenge. Poa will receive $100,000 dollars as prize money and will be added to Africa50’s investment pipeline. Poa will be considered for a potential investment, subject to Africa50’s due diligence process and Poa’s fit with Africa50’s investment criteria. If an investment is approved, Africa50 will seek to launch a pilot program in Rwanda to test the solution’s business model in a rural context and demonstrate its viability to be scaled across the continent.
The project would then be rolled-out in Rwanda as the pilot country, with the intention to scale up to other African countries.