Microsoft Philanthropies announce $1M in cash and technology grants to three innovative non-profitSouth African organisations to drive greater impact through digital transformation
Recipients of the grants are Youth Empowerment Services (YES), Peace Parks Foundation and the Sunflower Fund. Microsoft believes this “will bolster their work to respectively create employment opportunities for youth. It’ll combat wildlife crime and support conservation work. As well as advance healthcare solutions for those with Leukaemia and other life-threatening blood diseases”.
Since 2016 Microsoft philanthropies has given over $25 million in grants out to more than 2,300 South African non profits.
Microsoft’s Technology for Good
Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact (TSI) group general manager Justin Spelhaug, shared on Microsoft’s plan. A plan to empower non-profits to achieve more through digital transformation. He said non-profits currently operate in a world of highly constrained resources. They are doing more with less and this requires changing how they work. Technology can help accelerate their missions in many ways.
“Technology is a powerful tool to help solve the world’s most challenging issues. In the same way Microsoft takes our corporate clients on the digital transformation journey, we are working with NPOs in South Africa to help them implement long-term, sustainable change in their communities. Digital technology powered by Azure has helped NPOs make smarter decisions, be more productive and communicate with one another more effectively. In the future, AI will enable NGOs to harness vast amounts of data and make breakthrough advances in areas like healthcare, agriculture, education and transportation. We’re already seeing how AI-bolstered computing can help doctors reduce medical mistakes, farmers improve yields, teachers customise instruction and researchers unlock solutions to protect our planet.” – Justin Spelhaug
Here is a closer look at what these South African Organizations are working on
Youth Empowerment Services (YES)
Microsoft and YES have partnered to bring cloud technology and access to the latest software to South African youths. Launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 2018, YES is a business-led partnership with government, labour and civil society. YES aims to empower one million young South Africans by offering paid quality work experiences over the next three years.
Microsoft is investing $825,450 in a strategic software grant to equip 100 community hubs (YES centres of excellence). This comes with Office and other applications to boost employee productivity and skills development of young people. Microsoft will provide training to empower employees who will utilise Office for non-profits. They’ll also work on adapting more technologies as well as apps and service.
Peace Parks Foundation
Microsoft Philanthropies is providing the anti-poaching solutions organization a grant for its move to the cloud. Microsoft AI for Earth is also providing three grants to support various aspects of the Peace park Foundation work. These include a grant to further their Smart Parks system, using Microsoft’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) functionality to enable the transformation and integration of anti-poaching interventions. Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities have been deployed to analyse images from a network of connected camera traps to enable autonomous poacher detection. There are two additional grants. One to support new work on conservation-minded agriculture, to deliver best practices via an app for farmers. That has the potential to improve yields with minimal habitat impact, speaking closely to the Foundation’s community development work. The third grant has been secured for the Tracker Academy affiliated to the SA College of Tourism. A project that aims to pair AI with indigenous knowledge of animal tracking and behaviour to train the next generation of trackers.
Sunflower Fund
The Sunflower Fund plays a critical role in recruiting blood stem cell donors to fight Leukaemia and other life-threatening blood diseases. They are leveraging the power of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud (Azure), a mobile app and AI to better engage with donors and recipients.
Justin Spelhaug says in just 18 months we reached our goal. By helping more than 90,000 nonprofit organizations digitally scale their impact and serve the public good. Our goal over the next 3 years is to reach over 300,000 nonprofits by the year 2020.
Microsoft’s cloud for public good and philanthropy grants are available to help any non profit achieve more. Read more about Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact group and how you can benefit from the value they bring to the non-profit community.
Kenya’s student team TAWI has qualified for the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship set to take place in May. The team emerged winners in the education category of the 2023 Imagine Cup world finals qualifying round. Beating 15 other teams to become the top-scoring team and 2023 Europe Middle East and Africa(EMEA) champions. They won USD5,000 in prizes.
Team TAWI also qualified from 48 competing global teams to be selected among the top 3 that will compete in the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship. Where they will compete for the Imagine Cup trophy, the grand prize of USD100,000 to develop their project, and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
Team TAWI consists of Muna Said Nomy, John Onsongo Mabeya, Syntiche Musawu, Applied Computer Technology, and Zakariya Hussein, Data Science and Analytics undergraduate students of the United States International University (USIU) – Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Their innovative solution TAWI looks to make a difference in the lives of those who struggle with auditory processing.
The home-based software leverages real-time speech recognition technology to help children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) communicate more effectively. Instead of traditional hearing aids, TAWI uses earphones to amplify speech and cancel out background noise, making it easier for children with APD to engage in conversations and interact with others. It includes noise cancellation, sound amplification, speech-to-text conversion, and auditory training exercises.
The team will present TAWI at Microsoft Build 2023 where the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship takes place. They will compete against the winning teams from the Americas and Asia regions. Eupnea from the United States and CS-M Tool from Thailand, both from the Health category.
Student teams, Smart Farmer and iBoost from Kenya also emerged as EMEA winners in the Earth and Lifestyle categories respectively.
Hongera to these incredible young developers and all the best to Team TAWI in the championship!🎉
University student teams from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are among the shortlisted finalist of the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup world finals. They are among 16 teams who will represent the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at the Microsoft Imagine Cup student technology competition.
The African teams consist of seven teams from Kenya, one from Nigeria, and one from South Africa. The remaining finalist teams from the region come from the UK, Pakistan, UAE, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The EMEA teams will be competing with 32 other finalist teams from the Americas and Asia regions. For a chance to win USD50,000 in prizes and a spot to present at the 2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship.
Only three teams will make it to the next stage of the technology competition. The teams will need to get the top-scoring points in the region or category to progress to the next stage. The winning teams will get support from Microsoft mentors to prepare for the World Championship in May during Microsoft Build. Where they will win the grand prize of USD100,000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
African student teams have been performing exceptionally well in the technology competition that seeks to empower the next generation of creators and problem-solvers. In 2021 and for the first time in its 19-year history, an African student team from Kenya won the technology competition.
Here is a highlight of the African teams and their projects.
2023 Microsoft Imagine Cup Africa finalists
Team CAi from Kenya. Project category: Health
CAi is an AI-powered wearable device that detects seizures both prior to occurrence and in real-time and alerts caretakers. It uses the patient’s vital signs and body movements to detect seizure-like symptoms.
Team Paramount from South Africa. Project category: Earth
This system addresses the lack of participation in recycling through a gamification approach. Users earn points and badges for recycling and can also use the app to identify the correct bin to use.
Team iBoost from Kenya. Project category: Lifestyle
iBoost is a smart signal amplifier that leverages Azure Machine Learning, Bing Maps platform, and a host of other Microsoft technologies to bring an end to the internet connectivity and cellular network challenges brought about by poor network coverage.
Team IBTRS from Nigeria. Project category: Lifestyle
Institution based transport system (IBTRS) is based on a shuttle management system, IBTRS uses a telegram bot and RFID system to book shuttles at an affordable price for institutions, students, and workers and maximize efficiency.
Team RIM from Kenya. Project category: Earth
RIM Energy is a Smart LPG regulator that improves safety, monitors consumption, detects gas leaks, alerts on refill, and measures carbon footprint to reduce GHG emissions in African households.
Team Score More from Kenya. Project category: Education
Udhamini web app is a platform that gives students access to a centralized repository of scholarships to make opportunities easier to find and ensure that students don’t miss deadlines.
Team Smart Farmer from Kenya. Project category: Earth
Smart Farmer aims to increase agricultural production in order to help reduce food waste using technology.
Team TAWI from Kenya. Project category: Education
Tawi is a home-based software app that helps children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) improve their auditory skills. It includes noise cancellation, sound amplification, speech-to-text conversion, and auditory training exercises.
Team Wastestars from Kenya. Project category: Earth
Wastestars aims to design a smart waste collection system that allows citizens to choose and post the various types of solid waste they want to dispose of on the website and for garbage collectors.
Sandra Makena and Amanda Flavia, undergraduate students of Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT), Nyeri, Kenya, have emerged Earth Category winners of the 2022 Microsoft Imagine Cup Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional competition. They are awarded USD2500 cash and USD2500 in Microsoft Azure credits in prizes.
Sandra and Amanda, engineering and computer science students respectively, teamed up to take part in the Microsoft student technology competition. Qualifying as part of 48 teams to the World Finals stage out of thousands of teams from 160 countries. The 48 teams consisted of four other student teams from Kenya, Cameroon and South Africa representing Africa. Five teams from the Middle East and six from Europe, thus 16 finalists from the EMEA region. With Sandra Makena and Amanda Flavia winning in one of the four categories for the EMEA region.
The students with the Team name ‘Sayari’ the Swahili word for planet, conceptualized the ‘Ideal Monitoring System’ to reduce post-harvest losses and maximize yields for farmers. The system, they say, will help farm managers monitor and maintain ideal conditions for maximum yields. As well as the safe storage of agricultural produce in storage and agricultural cold rooms.
Even though Sandra and Amanda emerged as Microsoft Imagine Cup EMEA category winners they did not get the top-scoring points in the region to progress to the next stage. This year only the top-scoring team in each region gets to advance to the 2022 World Championship, which takes place during Microsoft Build in May. V Bionic, a student team from Saudi Arabia, getting the top-scoring points qualifies to represent the EMEA region. They will face off with Melodic, USA and Nana Shilpa, Sri Lanka, Americas and Asia regional winners respectively. For the chance to win the grand prize of USD100,000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
The competition known by others as the Olympics of Technology marks its 20th anniversary this year.
Flapmax is introducing the first 12 startups to kick off the FAST startup accelerator program. The startup incubation program seeks to help strengthen and scale Africa’s digital ecosystem. In partnership with Microsoft, Flapmax’s twelve-week startup accelerator will begin on March 21st. The 12 startups come from 6 different countries, serve 9 industries, and include 2 female founders.
Flapmax says over 800 applications from 25 countries in Africa were received for the first FAST accelerator cohort. With the highest number of applications coming from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt. Industries represented by the application pool included AgTech, EdTech, HealthTech, FinTech and more.
“Microsoft believes that African startups are well-placed to become a cornerstone of the African digital economy, with relevant solutions to local societal challenges. Participation in the FAST startup accelerator program will help these entrepreneurs capture available funding opportunities and plan for growth and future market expansion”
Gerald Maithya, Startups Lead, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.
“In partnership with the Microsoft team, we are bringing together a unique mix of technology business and innovative entrepreneurs to build and scale societally impactful solutions that enable digital transformation across industries, as well as an introduction to cloud and AI-integration tools designed to unlock new value for their businesses”.
Dave Ojika, founder and CEO, Flapmax
FAST applicants had to be based in Africa, ready to scale or expand within the continent, and have an established product-market fit while addressing one or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The first Flapmax FAST accelerator cohort features the following startups:
Capsa Technology (app.getCapsa.com) : Online platform to buy and sell invoices for businesses in Africa Nigeria | FinTech | SDG: No Poverty
Silqu (www.Silqu.com): Africa’s most advanced proptech platform in real estate and technology Kenya | PropTech | SDG: Decent Work and Economic Growth
LegitCar (LegitCar.ng): Building Africa’s biggest vehicle data service Nigeria | Automotive | SDG: Sustainable Cities and Communities
VAIS (VAIS.ai): Comprehensive precision agriculture platform powered by AI & earth observation Egypt | AgTech | SDG: Zero Hunger
Snark Health (SnarkHealth.com): Partner with your doctor. Leverage your data. Pay less. Kenya | HealthTech | SDG: Good Health and Well-being
Pade HCM (PadeHCM.com): Automated HR for all African businesses Nigeria | Enterprise Software | SDG: Decent Work and Economic Growth
K-12 EdTech (K12plus.app): Asynchronous and synchronous kindergarten to 12th-grade education app Kenya | EdTech | SDG: Quality Education
Tumaini La Maisha (www.weareTLM.org): Pediatric oncology services Tanzania | Government & Public Service | SDG: Good Health & Well-being
Taimba (Taimba.co.ke): East Africa’s First Data-Driven Food Supply Chain Platform Kenya | AgTech | SDG: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Wala Digital Health (WalaDigital.io): Digital platform for hospitals access to blood that saves lives Ghana | HealthTech | SDG: Good Health and Well-being
KaCyber Technologies (www.KaCyber.com) : Making seamless mobility a reality in Africa Uganda | Mobility | SDG: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Flapmax Learn
Flapmax also announced the launch of its new upskilling and reskilling platform, Flapmax Learn, which would be used during the twelve-week FAST program to facilitate technology and business masterclasses and certifications. The top 100 startups from the FAST applicant pool will receive complimentary access to the Flapmax Learn platform, including the accelerator learning modules and masterclasses.
Beginning March 21, the FAST accelerator cohort will engage in a broad range of activities, including training, business development, cloud & AI integration, fundraising and community-building events designed to help them scale rapidly and sustainably. Microsoft engineering team members will work one-on-one with participants on co-innovation projects ranging from product integrations to new offerings. With the help of the Flapmax engineering team, the startup founders will access new technology tools and services. Participants will benefit from up to $250,000 in Microsoft Azure cloud credits, as well as access to Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, including access to OpenAI APIs.
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