Three Kenyan Innovators Get Sh2 Million Funding from UK Academy in Covid-19 Fight

Three Kenyan entrepreneurs have received nearly Sh2 million from a UK-based engineering academy to advance their innovations geared towards the fight against Covid-19.

The three – Catherine Wanjoya, Collince Oluoch, and Fridah Njogu – will each receive Sh665,000 from Royal Engineering Academy through its Project CARE (COVID Africa Rapid Entrepreneurs) initiative to help them expand their business models whose intention is to combat Covid-19 in Kenya.

The three Kenyans were awarded the prize alongside five other African entrepreneurs from Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. The awardees were picked from a list of 53 applicants.

On Tuesday, May 26th, British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Mariott congratulated Wanjoya, Oluoch, and Njogu for winning the cash prizes.

Wanjoya invented an incinerator that is used to safely dispose of used personal protective equipment (PPE) on-site.

Oluoch has designed an application that allows real-time contact tracing with complete health information on a specific Covid-19 patient.

On the other hand, Njogu is providing data-driven insights on the readiness of Kenyan hospitals to offer other critical services during the pandemic.