Innovative sea economy startups awarded Sh1million

Three startups with ideas addressing climate change challenges in the sea economy and use of technology to boost businesses in the sector have won awards worth a collective Sh1million in seed capital from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Mombasa youth-based startups offer solutions ranging from directing fishermen to areas with most fish and converting fish waste into usable products.

They will each receive Sh300,000 in seed capital, after emerging top during the Blue Economy Innovation and Investment Summit. 

The summit was held as part of the ongoing Countrywide Innovations Week, by Sote Hub and Coast based hubs that include Swahili Box, Tech Bridge, and Close the Gap.

Waste to energy startup

The three are Seavive, a device that helps fishermen reduce time spent fishing by helping them easily locate spots with huge numbers of fish. The device floats on water and scans the area and shares the information real time on the fishermen's mobile phone. 

Tamu Chicks was also awarded for making organic feeds & Fertilizer from Fish Waste and by catch. They reutilize the disregarded fish waste from fishermen to help tap the untargeted waste to make fish feeds, Chicken feeds, Poultry Feeds & Pet feeds. These feeds & Fertilizers are sold to farmers.

Also awarded was waste to energy startup, Flemibriqs, which specializes in collection and conversion of waste to solid fuels used for heating applications. 

“They mostly convert coconut shells and husks to briquettes that we sell to homesteads, institutions, and other factories. Their goal is to minimize environmental pollution by waste and as well reduce the cutting down of trees to make charcoal,” the awards conveners said.

Creating jobs

Sote Hub Co-founder and Director David Ogiga said the awards recognized ideas that addressed use of technology to improve services.

“If we are able to employ technology then it will be able to help us enable our businesses to scale up, run efficiently and be able to offer services the best way to customers. We have so many opportunities for business in the blue economy, tech will enable us to collaborate and be more efficient,” he said.

He said incorporating technology into the blue economy sector would promote value addition along the value chain, thus enhancing efficiency and creating jobs.

Slovakia Ambassador to Kenya Katarina Zuffa Leligdonova said that innovations and new solutions are crucial while addressing the climate crisis or any other challenge a nation might be facing.

“Better understanding of challenges, decreasing vulnerability to climate change impacts and building climate resilience and putting forward smart solutions, these are the reasons why we met here today,” Leligdonova said.