Category: Innovation

  • South African Student Puts AI to the Test in Search for Greener Crop Boosters

    South African Student Puts AI to the Test in Search for Greener Crop Boosters

    Photo: WoreczkoJan / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 4.0.

    For Rudra Patel, a question about an invasive plant became an award-winning school research project: could artificial intelligence help scientists explore its possible use in agriculture?

    The Grade 11 learner at the UJ Academy Maths, Science and ICT School of Specialisation in Gauteng combined machine learning with laboratory experiments to investigate how different concentrations of Lantana camara extract affected wheat growth.

    His work earned him a Gold Medal, the Top Senior Scientist Award in Plant Sciences and the overall 2026 Top Senior Scientist Award, accompanied by a R75,000 prize. The Eskom Expo International Science Fair took place from 29 September to 2 October 2026 in Johannesburg.

    Turning an environmental problem into a research question

    Lantana camara is an invasive plant. Patel’s project explored whether extracts from it could have potential as natural substances that support crop growth.

    Machine learning offered a way to examine patterns in the data. Laboratory experiments brought the question back to living plants and their actual responses.

    Together, these approaches allowed Patel to investigate how computer modelling might complement experimental science in the search for useful applications for invasive plant material.

    His models identified general trends linked to the concentration of the extract. But recognising a pattern is only one step towards establishing whether something could work reliably in agriculture.

    An achievement—and an early research step

    The University of Johannesburg’s account makes the limits clear: further standardised experiments and analysis would be needed before reliable agricultural applications could be established.

    Patel’s project should therefore be understood as an investigation, rather than a finished crop booster ready for farmers. It does not establish that Lantana camara extract will improve crops under farm conditions.

    That does not diminish the achievement. After months of research, experimentation and refinement, a school learner brought together computing and plant science to explore a practical environmental question—and presented his work to judges at an international science fair.

    His story offers encouragement to other young people with questions of their own. Innovation does not always begin with a finished invention. Sometimes it begins with curiosity, careful experiments and the patience to discover what still needs to be understood.

    Written by MyHappyAfrica

    Source: University of Johannesburg.

  • In Nigeria, a better cassava harvest starts with farmers having a say

    In Nigeria, a better cassava harvest starts with farmers having a say

    AI-generated illustration; not a photograph of the Epe trial or its participants.

    At a field day in Epe, Lagos State, farmers gathered to help answer a practical question: which cassava varieties would work best for their farms—and for the people buying their harvest?

    They looked beyond the size of the roots. They considered how well plants stood, the products processors could make from them, and whether the varieties suited their everyday needs.

    IITA reported the trial on 11 September 2026. It involved 92 smallholder farmers and commercial cassava seed entrepreneurs, including 47 women.

    Farmers help choose

    The trial brought together the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Sasakawa Africa and participants in the PROSSIVA project, which works to improve access to cassava planting materials.

    At IFGREEN Industries, participants compared three varieties: Baba 70, Renewed Hope and TME419.

    They examined harvested roots, fresh weight, plant structure and other characteristics. More than 90 per cent preferred Baba 70 and Renewed Hope. Participants also considered these two varieties less likely to fall over in heavy winds.

    For farmers, these details matter. Choosing a variety means thinking about what will grow well, withstand difficult conditions and produce a harvest worth selling.

    The field day gave them a place in that decision, alongside researchers and seed entrepreneurs.

    Connecting farms with markets

    Growing cassava is only one part of the journey. The roots must also meet the needs of processors making foods such as garri, fufu and cassava flour.

    IFGREEN tested the harvested roots for different products. Baba 70 was preferred for garri quality. Renewed Hope produced the greatest quantity of garri and performed well for high-quality cassava flour. TME419 was preferred for its bright white colour.

    There was no single winner for every purpose.

    Instead, the results showed why farmers, seed suppliers and processors benefit from working together. Understanding what buyers need can help guide decisions about which varieties to grow and supply.

    Learning from one another

    For participant Josephine Idowu, the field day offered more than a comparison of plants.

    She described an opportunity to learn about improved varieties and processing, meet people across the cassava industry and build knowledge to support her agricultural business. She hoped to put that learning into practice.

    Her experience reflects the human value of the event: practical information becomes more useful when people also have opportunities to exchange ideas and make connections.

    A hopeful step forward

    This was a trial, rather than proof that participating farmers had already increased their incomes. Wider access to planting materials and sustained adoption remain important next steps.

    But the approach offers a hopeful example of research shaped by the people who will use it.

    In Epe, farmers were helping find answers that could work for both their land and their market.

    Source: IITA, September 2026. https: //blogs.iita.org/farmers-test-cassava-varieties-for-better-markets/

  • How a Cameroonian Company Is Using Drones and AI to Fight Waste and Flooding

    In many African cities, plastic waste is more than an environmental problem. When rubbish blocks drains, heavy rainfall can quickly turn into dangerous flooding.

    In Cameroon, BleagLee Waste Management is tackling this challenge with technology. The company uses drones to identify waste hotspots and AI-powered analysis to improve collection planning. This helps teams locate rubbish before it builds up in drains and other high-risk areas.

    The company’s progress shows that waste collection can also become a climate-resilience service. With support from the YouthADAPT programme, BleagLee financed a processing plant, added two collection trucks and trained 200 additional waste pickers.

    According to the African Development Bank, the company expanded its workforce from 31 to 124 people. Its revenue increased by 181%, while the amount of waste it recycled tripled.

    BleagLee has also attracted major support for its work, including US$50,000 from the ClimaTech Run competition, a US$400,000 World Food Programme grant for a project in Dakar, and a US$1 million Milken–Motsepe Prize.

    Its technology is now being used in Dakar to map plastic-waste hotspots and improve collection routes. This demonstrates how a solution developed in Cameroon can be adapted to help other African cities.

    BleagLee’s story is important because it connects three urgent needs: cleaner communities, protection from flooding and employment. It shows that African innovation does not always begin with creating something completely new. Sometimes it begins by using existing technology intelligently to solve a real local problem.

    Real people, Real progress, Real Africa.

    Source: African Development Bank — “From plastic-choked drains to flood-proof cities: BleagLee’s waste-to-resilience transformation in Cameroon.”

    Image: AI-generated illustration by MyHappyAfrica.

  • Uganda’s First Deaf-Led Tourism Company Wins International Recognition

    Travel should be open to everyone. In Uganda, two Deaf entrepreneurs are helping make that possible by transforming the safari experience for Deaf travellers.

    Denis Ssebayiga and Simone Pabsch co-founded SS Sign Language Tourism in Kampala in late 2024. The company received its official Ugandan tour-operator licence in October 2025 and is recognised as Uganda’s first Deaf-led sign-language tourism company.

    Safaris without communication barriers

    The company provides wildlife and cultural experiences guided in Ugandan Sign Language and International Sign.

    Its Deaf professional guides lead visitors on gorilla treks in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, chimpanzee tours in Kibale Forest and wildlife safaris across Uganda’s national parks.

    The experiences are designed for both Deaf and hearing travellers. Guests do not need previous knowledge of sign language, allowing people with different backgrounds to experience Uganda together.

    From Uganda to the world

    Although the company is still young, it has already welcomed travellers from Uganda, Kenya, Germany, France and the United States.

    On 22 September 2026, Condé Nast Traveler selected SS Sign Language Tourism as one of its 25 “Bright Ideas in Travel” winners. More than 200 projects from around the world were considered.

    The publication described the company as East Africa’s first safari operator designed by and for Deaf travellers.

    Creating opportunities through tourism

    The founders now hope to train more Deaf guides, acquire a second safari vehicle and expand their accessible tours into Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

    Their work shows how inclusion can also create business opportunities. Deaf travellers gain access to meaningful wildlife experiences, while Deaf professionals can develop careers in tourism and conservation.

    SS Sign Language Tourism is not simply organising holidays. It is removing communication barriers, creating employment opportunities and presenting East Africa’s wildlife and culture to visitors from around the world.

    Real People. Real Progress. Real Africa.

    Sources: SS Sign Language Tourism and Condé Nast Traveler, 22 September 2026.

    https://www.ss-signlanguagetourism.com

    https://www.cntraveler.com/story/bright-ideas-in-travel-2026

  • Côte d’Ivoire Is Turning Plastic Waste Into Classrooms

    In Côte d’Ivoire, discarded plastic is being given an unexpected new purpose: building classrooms.
    The project transforms difficult-to-recycle plastic into strong, interlocking bricks. These bricks can then be assembled into classrooms more quickly than many conventional building materials.
    It is a practical response to two challenges at once—the accumulation of plastic waste and the need for safe learning spaces.

    From discarded plastic to school walls

    Following an initial pilot, UNICEF and the Colombian social enterprise Conceptos Plásticos announced the construction of a recycling factory in Abidjan in 2019.

    At the time, UNICEF said the factory would be able to process 9,600 tonnes of plastic annually. The initial ambition was to build 528 classrooms for more than 25,000 children.

    A report published on 5 September 2026 states that 1,441 tonnes of plastic have since been transformed and 262 classrooms constructed, creating learning spaces for approximately 13,100 children.

    The bricks are lightweight, modular and designed to fit together. This can make classroom construction faster while also giving waste that might otherwise be burned or dumped a useful destination.

    Women at the centre of the solution

    The programme also creates opportunities for women who collect and sort recyclable material.
    By developing a dependable market for discarded plastic, the project can help waste collectors earn an income while contributing to cleaner communities.

    Their work is an essential part of the process. Without the people who recover and sort the material, the plastic cannot begin its journey from waste to classroom wall.

    A solution with several benefits
    This initiative does not pretend to solve all of Côte d’Ivoire’s education or waste-management challenges. It does, however, show what can happen when environmental action, local employment and education are considered together.

    A discarded plastic container may appear worthless. Through collection, innovation and construction, it can become part of a place where children learn.
    That is real progress: turning a problem found in the streets into an opportunity inside the classroom.

    Real People. Real Progress. Real Africa.

    Sources: UNICEF and The Times of India, September 2026.

  • The Togolese Inventor Making Fufu Easier to Prepare

    In Togo, inventor and entrepreneur Jules Minsob Logou has turned an everyday challenge into an innovative African success story.

    He created the Foufoumix, a machine that prepares smooth fufu in just a few minutes. The invention reduces the time and physical effort normally required to pound cooked yam or cassava by hand.

    Trained in electrotechnics, Jules develops practical technology suited to African needs. Beyond the Foufoumix, his company has worked on other locally designed equipment, including a small agricultural tractor.

    His innovation has received recognition beyond Togo. In 2014, he won second place at the Innovation Prize for Africa, and the Foufoumix has reached customers in West Africa and abroad.

    Jules Minsob Logou’s journey shows that innovation does not always mean replacing tradition. Sometimes, it means using technology to preserve tradition while making everyday life easier.

    This is African creativity solving an African challenge.

    Real People. Real Progress. Real Africa.

    Sources: Forbes Afrique, Togo First and the official Foufoumix website.

    Image: AI-generated illustration by MyHappyAfrica.

  • How Benin’s ECOZEM Is Using Solar Energy to Improve Local Transport

    How Benin’s ECOZEM Is Using Solar Energy to Improve Local Transport

    In Benin, entrepreneur Fèmi Tankpinou is exploring a cleaner way to move people around towns and communities.

    Through his company, ECOZEM, he is developing battery-powered tuk-tuks and tricycles that can be recharged using solar energy.

    Transport Powered by Benin’s Sunshine

    Many people in Benin depend on small vehicles and motorcycles for their daily journeys.

    However, conventional vehicles require fuel, which can be expensive and produces air pollution.

    ECOZEM’s approach combines electric three-wheelers with solar charging. Instead of depending entirely on petrol or diesel, the vehicles use batteries that can be recharged with energy from the sun.

    This could make local transportation cleaner while reducing dependence on imported fuel.

    Designed for Everyday Journeys

    Electric tuk-tuks are smaller and simpler than conventional cars. They can carry passengers through busy neighbourhoods and travel on roads serving rural and peri-urban communities.

    Tankpinou told Global Citizen that the service has helped some students reach school more reliably, particularly in places where dependable transportation can be difficult to find.

    The vehicles are also intended to be affordable to operate and easier to maintain. ECOZEM has reportedly used recycled metal in some of its locally made vehicles, adding another environmental benefit to the project.

    A Practical Beninese Innovation

    ECOZEM is not claiming to replace every vehicle on Benin’s roads. Its work demonstrates how electric mobility and solar power could provide practical transport for particular communities.

    The initiative also shows that African entrepreneurs can adapt clean technology to local conditions instead of waiting for solutions designed elsewhere.

    Tankpinou hopes the idea can grow within Benin and eventually reach other African countries.

    From sunshine to everyday journeys, ECOZEM is showing how a locally developed transport solution could contribute to cleaner and more accessible mobility.

    Could solar-powered transport become part of everyday life in more African cities and communities?

    Source: Global Citizen

  • Cerebro: The African Innovation Turning Brain Signals into Movement

    Technology can become most powerful when it gives people greater independence.

    African innovator Pierre Sedi is developing Cerebro, an affordable brain-computer interface designed for people with severe motor impairments. The system aims to translate brain signals into commands that can control assistive robotic devices.

    Brain-computer interfaces already exist, but their cost and complexity can make them difficult to access in underserved communities. Cerebro is being developed as a lower-cost and scalable alternative designed with African communities and other low-resource settings in mind.

    Pierre presented the project during the 2026 AI for Good Global Summit. The event brought together innovators using artificial intelligence and related technologies to solve practical human challenges.

    Cerebro is still a developing technology, rather than a finished medical product already in widespread use. However, its purpose is important: making advanced assistive technology more affordable and accessible to people who might otherwise be excluded.

    This is what African innovation can look like—using advanced knowledge not simply to impress, but to help people communicate, interact with devices and gain more control over their daily lives.

    What other African technologies deserve greater recognition?

    Source: ITU AI for Good https://aiforgood.itu.int/from-diagnosis-to-assistive-robotics-african-innovators-put-ai-to-work/

  • The Gambia Reaches Thousands of Children with Life-Saving Vaccines

    The Gambia Reaches Thousands of Children with Life-Saving Vaccines

    Across The Gambia, health workers are helping more children receive the life-saving vaccines they need to grow up healthy and protected from preventable diseases.

    At Serekunda Health Centre, first-time father Haruna Darboe watched as a health worker weighed his three-month-old daughter and gave her routine vaccinations. For Haruna, the visit brought reassurance that his baby was receiving the protection she needed.

    Between January 2025 and March 2026, six nationwide vaccination drives reached thousands of children. More than 103,000 pentavalent vaccine doses, 76,000 measles-rubella doses and 108,000 oral polio vaccine doses were delivered across the country.

    Health workers are also improving the way they identify children who miss appointments and follow up with their families. In 2026, another 47,208 HPV vaccine doses were delivered to adolescent girls, helping protect them from cervical cancer later in life.

    This is what positive change looks like: dedicated health workers, informed parents and strong partnerships working together to protect children—one family and one vaccination at a time.

    Original source: WHO Regional Office for Africa – How Gavi’s Support Is Helping The Gambia Reach Every Child with Life-Saving Vaccines

    https://www.afro.who.int/countries/the-gambia/news/beyond-numbers-how-gavis-support-helping-gambia-move-towards-reaching-every-child-life-saving

    Featured image: AI-generated illustration created for MyHappyAfrica.

  • Drones and AI Join Ghana’s Fight Against Malaria

    Drones and AI Join Ghana’s Fight Against Malaria

    In Ghana’s Ada East District, researchers are testing how drones, artificial intelligence and digital mapping can improve malaria prevention in hard-to-reach communities.

    Wetlands, lagoons and rice fields in the district create favourable conditions for mosquitoes to breed. Finding and treating these areas using conventional methods can be extremely time-consuming. According to the project team, two workers may need up to 10 days to cover just one kilometre of mosquito-breeding habitats.

    The new approach uses drones to map the landscape, while AI-assisted analysis helps identify places where mosquitoes may be breeding. The drones can then spray larvicide on the mapped locations in under an hour—a task that could take field workers several days using conventional methods.

    The pilot study brings together Ghana’s National Malaria Elimination Programme, UNDP’s Access and Delivery Partnership, SORA Technology and the WHO-supported TDR programme. Their goal is to discover whether this technology can strengthen routine malaria prevention in Ghana and other hard-to-reach settings.

    This is what positive change looks like: African health experts combining local knowledge with modern technology to protect communities, save time and make malaria prevention more effective.

    Original source: WHO/TDR – Harnessing drones and AI to combat malaria in Ghana

    https://tdr.who.int/newsroom/news/item/21-07-2026-harnessing-drones-and-ai-to-combat-malaria-in-ghana