Author: Rachel
Wariko (Kuza Biashara)
Sriram Bharatam & Juliet Gateri receiving the Prestigious Vision 2030 Innovation Award
The
Connected Kenya summit came to an exciting end on April 5, as
Kuza Biashara emerged top to clinch one of the Nation’s top innovation awards. The
Vision 2030 ICT innovation award is part of the
Connected Kenya
Summit that took place from the April 2-5, 2012. The purpose of these
awards, started in 2011, is to “Recognize and Celebrate Kenyans who have
developed
ICT solutions that drive economic growth and social development as outlined in
Kenya’s Vision 2030“.The innovation awards were the creation of the
Kenya ICT Board and the
Kenya Vision 2030
Delivery Secretariat. All applicants for the awards were required to be
registered as a business in Kenya and have had their product in the
Kenyan market for at least six months. The applications were then
reviewed by a team of independent judges representing the
ICT
private sector, academia, public sector and civil society. Over 400
applications for different categories from all over the country.
Kuza Biashara won the award as the Best Innovation in the Education and Training sector, which was the most hotly contested category.
Sriram Bharatam, Founder and Chief Mentor of
Kuza Biashara was on hand to accept the award along with Juliet Gateri, Operations Head of
Kuza Biashara. Other winners were
Green Dreams Tech for their product iCow in the Agriculture sector;
Digital Divide Data Kenya, in the Business Process Outsourcing sector;
Digital Horizons, in the Financial services sector;
Michezo Afrika in the Gender, Youth and Vulnerable groups sector; Social Equity and Poverty Reduction went to
ALIN and
Compulynx while
MamaMikes.com won in the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector.
“Encouraging local innovation is critical for Kenya to achieve
Vision 2030. There are a lot of young people who come up with brilliant innovations but it goes to waste if the ideas are not monetized.
Vision 2030 hopes to help market and communicate these innovations,” said
Mugo Kibati, Director General,
Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat.
Speaking on this occasion,
Sriram Bharatam
(Sri) said, “This recognition is a testimony that we are in the right
direction and is a great motivator to the 50+ team members of
Kuza Biashara
across 20 locations in Kenya, to now scale this idea and reach out to
transform as many Kenyan small business owners as possible.”
