Winning #thebotnarchallenge at Sahara Sparks 2018
There’s no doubt that the Sahara Sparks 2018 + AfriLabs Annual Gathering 2018 generates buzz and excitement — it’s the largest innovation and technology entrepreneurship event in Africa. The event, hosted annually in Dar es Salaam, is an opportunity for innovators, tech enthusiasts, startups, and thought leaders to come together and talk about the ways we can use technology to positively impact the world we live in. The event brings together individuals from a range of global sectors, and serves as a platform for young African entrepreneurs and startups across the continent to pitch their ideas, connect with investors, and get feedback about their solutions.
This year’s theme was Innovation in the Data Age, with thematic areas ranging from Big Data and Analytics to Artificial Intelligence and eHealth Solutions to Women in Tech and The Future of Agriculture and Food Security. To read more about the thematic areas for this year’s event, you can check out the event deck here.
Special guest, H.E Dr. Jakaya M. Kikwete, former President of Tanzania, joined us on the second day of activities to share his life story and encourage young people to contribute to the rapidly growing innovation ecosystem in Tanzania and across the continent. All of the event’s speakers shared a common theme: support young entrepreneurs and innovators, encourage their involvement in science and technology, and foster an innovation ecosystem that serves their needs. We know that change only happens from within, and we appreciate H.E Dr. Kikwete, Saraha Sparks, and other stakeholders within the ecosystem in Tanzania for supporting home-grown solutions.
The Botnar Challenge
For Inspired Ideas and Dr. Elsa, the most exciting part of this event was discussions around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and eHealth solutions in the country. H.E Dr. Kikwete joined leaders from Fondation Botnar, UNICEF, and D-Tree International on a panel about the subject. Facilitated by Dr. Hassan Mshinda, former head of COSTECH in Tanzania, the discussion centered around how we can use these emerging technologies to improve health outcomes, better track diseases, and create a more intelligent healthcare delivery system.
Earlier this year, Fondation Botnar released a challenge around this very theme. They asked one question:
”How can we improve the health and wellbeing of young people in Tanzania using AI and digital solutions?”
In August, Dr. Elsa applied for #thebotnarchallenge and were selected as semi-finalists with 12 other teams from around the world. Fondation Botnar partnered with Sahara Ventures to offer mentoring and coaching to each of the semi-finalists, which was meant to further develop each idea and prepare the teams for the final part of the competition.
In September, Dr. Elsa was chosen as one of the top four finalists for the challenge, and we were given the opportunity to pitch one final time at the Sahara Sparks 2018 event. This pitch was part presentation, part workshop — more than 40 individuals from the conference joined us and Vijana Afya, our friends and fellow finalists, to listen to our solutions and then work through some of our challenges with us. Facilitated by Creaholic, this workshop allowed us to gain insight about our idea, answer further questions, and explore new solutions.
We were humbled (and incredibly excited) to be selected as the winners for #thebotnarchallenge this year! Check out our video posted by Fondation Botnar:
What’s Next
We received some incredible insight and advice from Fondation Botnar and our mentors at Saraha Venture about our solution. For the last year, we have been building Dr. Elsa as a health assistant tool, powered by AI and data, to empower rural healthcare workers through diagnostic decision support, next steps recommendations, and disease outbreak prediction.
Our next steps are to refine our use case, collect more data, and begin preparations for a pilot study that will allow us to validate the efficacy of our tools for use across the country.
We are so grateful to Fondation Botnar and Sahara Sparks for supporting our team and believing in our work. We want to give a huge congratulations to all of the teams who participated in #thebotnarchallenge. We loved getting the opportunity to work with you and we wish you the best of luck in all of your ventures.
If you would like to know more about our work with Dr. Elsa, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
