Last year once again, the Rebranding Africa forum ended with a gala and the Rebranding Africa Awards ceremony, during which the invention of Christian Cedric TOE was crowned as the winner of Innovation Time among 3 contestants. His invention, the LAAFI BAG, is a refrigerating bag capable of maintaining the temperature of vaccines such that they remain active. He was given a 10,000€ cheque donated by our partner the ACP Group.
Our jury was not the only one convinced by his innovation. He also won the support of Coris Bank Burkina Faso that made a commitment to guide and to support him financially with an amount of 155,000€, needed to finalise and produce his invention.
Jury members were:
President
Mr. Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary-General, Secretary ACP Group
Members
Mrs. Stéphanie Cahn, Founding partner, AACCES, Business lawyer, promoter of development projects in Africa
Mrs. Chantal Kamatari, President of Friends of Africa Business Networking Group, Project Manager, CSR – Economic and Environmental, BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV
Dr Maximin Emagna, Expert in the private sector, Secretary of the ACP group.
The jury used the underneath evaluation grid to evaluate the projects:
Candidates
Christian Cédric Toe
Laafi Bag is a project for the design of a portable equipment for the preservation of vaccines, laboratory samples and perishable products; using an innovative technology with the help of various energy sources such as renewable energies. The in-built system automatically regularises the internal temperature of the equipment within a temperature range defined by its user.
Kgatlhanye Thato
Repurpose Schoolbags, the new school bags have been designed with the help of recycled plastic bags, integrating solar technology and batteries to provide light in the night to study.
Afiss Bileoma
Odjala which means « Big market » in Yoruba is an online commercial center (available on mobile phones and on the Internet) launched in July 2016 in Benin. Odjala is the first e-commerce Benin application. Apart from the fact that it encapsulates many shops in Benin, what makes Odjala special is that it harbours shops of the Dantokpa market, which is the biggest market in West Africa.