Innovation challenges serve as the stage where the next generation of innovators and the next great ideas emerge from the shadows. These platforms are not merely competitions; they are crucibles of creativity, where intense conditions force participants to ideate and develop concepts in a very short time, unveiling the diamonds in the rough.
Consider the analogy of talent shows, where contestants either receive a wake-up call to rethink their life’s pursuits or receive the one break that sets them up for life. Innovation challenges operate on a similar philosophy, acting as a crucible where participants either learn that there is a need to reconsider or re-strategize their course, or receive the fuel to amplify their efforts.
One of the primary benefits of innovation challenges is their ability to provide a low-risk opportunity for individuals to test and showcase their ingenuity. Many potential innovators may not even be aware of the extent of their capabilities until presented with a challenge that pushes them to their limits. These challenges act as catalysts, igniting latent sparks of creativity and entrepreneurship.
Moreover, innovation challenges function as platforms that allow young people to showcase their ideas and skills to a diverse audience that they may not have access to ordinarily, thus increasing the surface area of opportune connections. Participants have the chance to network with mentors, potential investors, and like-minded individuals who can propel their ideas forward.
Additionally, they provide investors and other entrepreneurial ecosystem players scouting for promising ventures, the opportunity to identify and cultivate relationships with up-and-coming talent that have high-potential ideas. In this way, innovation challenges act as catalysts for ecosystem development, and meaningful network-building.
It’s for these and many other reasons that we at JLA, in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, are hosting an Innovation Challenge dubbed the Renewable Revolution. It aims to engage and inspire young aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs to address the confluence of two of the most pressing global issues of our time: climate change, and energy access. The young people will be challenged to design solutions that are contextually tailored to solve problems facing local communities, but with the potential to scale. Thereafter, the finalists will be sponsored by JLA to join our incubation program, greenLabs, where they receive training, mentorship, and access to networks & resources. In the long run, it is anticipated that startups will emerge making the young people job creators themselves.
We see this as a pathway to addressing the “forgotten” millions in Africa, within the global arena – an arena whose agenda is largely focused on the complex challenges of Russia vs Ukraine or Israel vs Hamas. This is not a downplay on the consequent challenges of these wars, but rather an acknowledgement that in the “agenda pie” the slice of the millions of Africans left behind socially, economically, or technologically is rather narrow. Yet we maintain our conviction that this in and of itself is not the problem. Rather, need can be the mother of invention; the problem is the unabated continuance of these issues. Leveraging the Innovation Challenge, we have the opportunity to discover young bright Africans who we can nurture and provide the right environment, tools and resources, that enable them to genuinely move the needle for millions of Africans, while profiting the planet.
As we stand on the precipice of a green revolution, we believe that innovation challenges will continue to play a pivotal role in discovering and harnessing the creativity, ingenuity, and passion of the next generation of innovators, as well as catalyze the rate of generation of breakthrough ideas that will propel the African green economy.
