Blog: First AfriAlliance Roadshow Event

The first AfriAlliance Roadshow event was held on 7 May 2018 in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, by AfriAlliance partner 2iE (International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering). The theme of this event was  “innovation for improved African resilience against Climate Change”. The Roadshow provided  a platform to to : (1) raise awareness of local innovation and technology needs, (2) help SMEs find opportunities in the market and to (3) improve local networks in various African countries.

To achieve this, the Roadshow event was launched during the Africa Center Excellence Workshop of the World Bank (WB). AfriAlliance partners AkVO, WASCAL, AFWA and GWP were also present at the event. More than 100 participants attended, amongst whom representatives from the financial sector, Business, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), innovators, researchers, academics and students

After a welcoming  session and the presentation of the AfriAlliance project, five  local innovators presented their innovations to the participants:

• “Sainte Famille SAABA” presented a solar powered modular pump for water supply.
• “SAAGGA Company” presented a smart irrigation system for food security.
• “JACIGREEN” presented a technology turns water Hyacenth which is responsible of the lakes eutrophication and curse for African water lander into sources of energy;
• “TECO²”: presented the valorization of plastic waste to produce bench tables, chairs, roofs and houses for an ecological habitat
• “FASO-PRO”: presented the breeding of insects and caterpillars for human consumption and against infants malnourished in Burkina Faso

These presentations were supported with lively demonstrations of the respective products.

The Roadshow event proved to be a lively and interactive event and attendees showed a lot of  enthusiasm for the presented innovations. For an impression of the event, please see the video below.

This blog post was written by our partner 2iE.