National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has awarded 12 Information Communication Technology (ICT) innovators in the ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) Innovation Jam competition in Mangochi.
The awards, presented at the ICTAM annual lake conference over the weekend, saw Goodwill Salima of GS Smart Greenhouse shine as he scooped two awards, one in the Agri-Tech category and was also crowned as the best innovator.
“I innovated a solution that automates and monitors what happens in a greenhouse. We plant a sensor that measures the soil moisture and temperature. So, when the soil moisture has dropped the water automatically starts irrigating and likewise automatically stops,” said Salima.
Innovators were competing in six categories namely Agri-Tech, e-Health, Fintech, Emerging Technologies, Open Source, SheCodes, and Overall Open category.
Only the Fintech innovator of the year, M1 Money Mobile App got K2 million, while winners in all categories got K1.5 million each, and runners-up took home K1 million each.
Automated Fertilizer Granulator came second to Salima, while Celsee Smartphone Thermometer won the eHealth award followed by Under-5 Auto-Digital Weighing system.
Kavel Decodes was crowned winner in the Emerging Technologies category, while Auto-Vigil also known as QuickPlate were runners-up.
In the Open-Source category, School Guide Malawi emerged as the winner followed by Umunthu Digital Corruption Reporting System.
All-in-One Career Advancement Platform for Tech Professionals won the SheCodes category, and Research Connect was the runner-up.
NBM plc Head of Digital Financial Services, William Kaunda said the bank supports the awards to help develop local talents and solutions that can be used.
“Agenda 2063 talks about this country being able to be digital. Now you cannot get there without being in 2024, that is where National Bank comes in because we are preparing a set of skills that will be able to deliver various aspects of the digital plan.”
“When we started sponsoring in 2019, ICTAM was not like it is today. This year we had very stiff competition. We had 82 entries but we had to choose the best 12,” said Kaunda.
In his remarks, ICTAM president Clarence Gama thanked National Bank plc for the partnership to ensure the innovations go through the much-needed incubation process.
“We have received a commitment from National Bank of Malawi of about K115 million every year and part of it goes towards the incubation,” said Gama.