M-Paper and STICLAB Tanzanian innovators winning at the global stage.

The electronic waste 3D printer which was made at the maker space of the Buni Hub, by Buni and the STICLAB team.

The last quarter of 2015 will be a time to remember for the Tanzanian innovation ecosystem. The ecosystem which has been growing very fast, with STICLAB coming into the map. Located outside the city centre down the Airport road. STICLAB is a home of brilliant Tanzanian makers and innovators. STICLAB is partnering with Buni Hub (COSTECH) and Tech4trade on the e-waste 3D printers project. The project which started at Buni Hub as a pilot project to try to build the first 3D printer from the electronic wastes.

STICLAB - SticLab is a technology innovation centre that provides a futuristic technology development environment for scientists, makers and innovators. The center offers its users full access to lab and Workshop equipment. 

Early this year, Buni Hub hosted the Tanzanian Chapter of the World Bank's Negawatt Challenge. The hub hosted the challenge definition day (information session), the challenge weekend and the Bootcamp. The team from STICLAB was among the eight original teams which participated in the challenge. The challenge was so intense, I still remember the challenge weekend the pitchers and the teams, the young Tanzanian innovators who dared to try to showcase their talents and provide solutions for problems facing the energy and water sector in the country. The solutions were inventive and very promising, some of the innovators managed to come up with the prototype of their solutions on the same weekend. 

World Bank's Negawatt Challenge - Negawatt is a global competition empowering communities to innovate around local energy issues. Using a multi-phase open innovation methodology, this initiative aims to transform cities into more sustainable and energy efficient places. Cities all over the world have been selected on the basis of their governments' commitment to energy efficiency and low carbon growth, as well as the existence of dynamic and growing entrepreneurial and technology sectors.

Only a strong flame can make the fine steel, after the tough process of ideation, weekend competitions, the Bootcamp and the acceleration programme, team from STICLAB got the chance to represent Tanzania at the global stage in Barcelona, Spain during the main event of the Negawatt Challenge. Guess what, they won the global challenge. 

Finally #negawattchallenge winners of 2015 @bunihub @stic_lab @J4Mtambalike @BasilMalaki pic.twitter.com/B5pahQfFQA

— Jun!or Masanja (@jmasanja) November 17, 2015

Earlier this week we received the great news that, the team from STICLAB has managed to win the challenge competition at the global stage surpassing all other innovators who participated in the challenge. Their solution a smart water vending machine won the first prize. The vending machine can purify water and it is attached to a smart meter to control water usage. The vending machine can be used by entrepreneurs to sell clean and purified water. At the same time, it can be used on public places such as schools and hospitals to ensure a constant supply of clean and drinkable water. The technology inside the machine makes the machine energy efficient and cost effective.

The M-paper success, 

It was a good week for the co-founder of Smartcodes, Edwin Bruno, the company behind the mobile application M-Paper. The mobile application won AppsAfrica awards as the best educational innovation app in Africa. The news was realised in Capetown, South Africa and the awarding ceremony was conducted during the AfricaCom Conference 2015.

"We thank you all for supporting mPaper. We promise to work hard in making the app even much better"- @iEdwn pic.twitter.com/xIbCmgUoFx

— M-Paper (@mPaperApp) November 17, 2015

M-Paper is a mobile application for readers, the application allows it's users to read newspapers, magazines and books with local Tanzanian contents. At the time whereby there is an intense battle between the digital media and traditional media (newspapers and likes), the mobile application will be able to secure a huge user base as times go on. Already in Tanzania people are reading news online, but the challenge has been reading updated news and getting all the news from different sources on one platform. It seems M-Paper has been able to solve that challenge.


Two key lessons learned,

STICLAB team success didn't come cheaply, this means with a proper mentoring and acceleration programmes startups and ideas from Tanzania will be able to prosper to the global stage and do wonders. Again, ideas winning titles is not the main goal, as a country we need to set policies and structures that create the conducive environment for technology transfer and commercialization otherwise most of our brilliant innovations will end up on exhibitions and competitions.

The second key lesson is from M-Paper app, African innovators need to understand technology is just a tool. A tool which add massive value to a solution or an idea once it used to solve a real problem otherwise, it will just remain a tool. M-Paper has been able to address not a big problem technology wise but in terms of user need it has addressed a major issue.