The SDG Innovation Challenge is on again! Are you young, African and an SDG leader in the making? Do you thrive while working together with like-minded people committed to making a difference from the grassroots level up? The SDG Innovation Challenge is your space to be!
Designed as a virtual, pan-African ideation space, the SDG Innovation Challenge is a power-house for young people from across the continent to come together in developing and connecting practical solution ideas to grassroots challenges while pushing the needle of sustainable development on a global scale.
Following the huge success of the maiden event in 2020, the SDG Innovation Challenge 2021 is re-launching with double the capacity, from 18-20 October 2021 and 21-23 October 2021. To maximize engagement, each event is limited to 100 participants, creating space for up to 200 young pan-African young innovators and entrepreneurs to develop practical, impact-oriented solution ideas through cross-boundary teamwork.
Youth resilience in Covid-19 Era: Pathways to accelerate actions towards achieving SDGs!
The COVID-19 global health emergency and its economic and social impacts have disrupted nearly all aspects of life for all groups in society. For young people, and especially for vulnerable youth, the COVID-19 crisis poses considerable risks in the fields of education, employment, mental health, and more. To reduce exacerbating intergenerational inequalities and to involve young people in building societal resilience, under the theme Youth resilience in Covid-19 era: Pathways to accelerate actions towards achieving SDGs, the SDG Innovation Challenge 2021 converges young talent with two primary goals:
To trigger fresh thinking by connecting innovators from diverse backgrounds and sectors, and
To further knowledge transfer and collaborations across boundaries to ignite transformative action towards sustainable development and improved livelihoods of communities across Africa.
Experience deep collaboration and work across domains to gain insights into the brightest minds tackling sustainable development from the grassroots level up! An opportunity for young, pan-African social innovators and entrepreneurs to change the world, one idea at a time!
There are numerous reasons young change-makers from across Africa should participate in the SDG Innovation Challenge. Here are a few of them!
The SDG Innovation Challenge is open to participation for young people across Africa. What do we seek from participants?
To participate in one of the two events happening virtually this 18-20 and 21-23 October, you must have registered by 4 October 2021. Registrations are now closed.
Following the registration deadline, participants will receive further instructions about the activities and the technologies deployed during the event. And then, the challenge is on: participants will be asked to form an interdisciplinary team with the other registrants and, together, develop a solution idea which they will consolidate in a short video pitch at the end of the challenge.
The following points must be considered before registration:
The registration follows a two-step process: First, you must register your group – this can be done by one designated member of that group. Important is, that you have the names and email addresses of the young innovators you’ll be working with at hand. After completing the group registration, the registrant will receive an email with instructions for the second step, the personal registry, where each group member must provide additional personal information that is required in order to make the event a full success. Both steps are equally important and only groups who have completed both steps will be considered for participation in the SDG Innovation Challenge 2021.
All registrations will be screened and undergo a pre-selection. Selected participants will be confirmed by 13 October. Once selected, teams of 3-7 participants will engage over the course of 48 hours from either 18-20 October or from 21-23 October to unpack challenges faced by their local communities and relate the Challenge theme. Together, they design practical solution ideas to strike at the roots of problems and tackle them bottom-up!
The solution ideas submitted during both events will then be assessed by an independent panel of judges. The ideas with the highest evaluation will have the opportunity to present their proposal at the 4th African Youth SDGs Summit, Africa’s Africa’s biggest Sustainable Development Youth congregation.
In addition, the top teams receive continued support in form of digital literacy tools for startup upscale, support for business modeling and registration, recommendations to investment match-making opportunities, access to business incubation, pro-bono mentorship, and more. To crown it all, an SDG Innovation Fund will soon be launched to crowdsource financial support for leading project ideas!
The SDG Innovation Challenge 2021 is a 48-hours innovation marathon. We're following a paced process that puts participants in charge to manage their time freely, using the following schedule as orientation.
Last date to register. Post this date, no applications will be accepted. Upon registration, all applicants will be required to join the pre-connector space on Facebook.
The participants selected are informed. The candidates will now proceed to contest in SDG Innovation Challenge 2021.
The first phase of the 48 hours ideation marathon is organized.
Both phases follow the same process. Selected teams will be assigned to Challenge 1 or 2 based on availability and team preference. At the end of each event, teams submit their solution idea, which will be assessed by a judging panel after concluding both challenges.
The second phase of the 48 hours ideation marathon is organized.
Both phases follow the same process. Selected teams will be assigned to Challenge 1 or 2 based on availability and team preference. At the end of each event, teams submit their solution idea, which will be assessed by a judging panel after concluding both challenges.
The solution ideas submitted during both events will be assessed by an independent panel of judges. The ideas with the highest evaluation will have the opportunity to present their proposal at the 4th African Youth SDGs Summit, Africa’s Africa’s biggest Sustainable Development Youth congregation.
Our panel of evaluators for the SDG Innovation Challenge 2021 includes experienced, diverse, and dynamic thought leaders from around the world!
Meet Esi E. Ansah
Lecturer, Ashesi University
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Meet Ediola Pashollari
Secretary General, World Assembly of Youth
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Meet Gregory Pepper
Program Lead, UNLEASH
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Meet Janine van Throo
Board of Directors, TECHFARM Hub
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Meet Marlene Trost
CEO & Co-founder, Combeo Consult
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Meet Darrell Kofkin
Co-founder & Program Director, Shibuka
Read BioLecturer, Ashesi University
Dr. Ansah is a versatile professional with 10+ years of experience in higher education as well as in setting up and managing a fully functional HR firm.
She describes teaching as her “first love,” and believes that life is all about self-discovery and scalable transformation. She enjoys facilitating learning journeys for people both in and outside the classroom. She has taught courses including Leadership and Human Resource Management at Ashesi University, using creative strategies in student-centered learning.
Dr. Ansah provides strategic leadership to a number of organizations that focus on civil society, including founding and managing an organization that supports aging with dignity, through innovative programs and advocacy (the Association of Ghana’s Elders). She holds positions in significant regional and global forums, and her expertise includes curriculum and program design, project management, management consulting (organizational development) strategic planning, coaching and facilitation, strategic communication, and advocacy.
Secretary General, World Assembly of Youth
Ms. Ediola Pashollari is of Albanian nationality and holds a Masters in Business Administration (UK), a Masters of Arts in Political Science (UK), a Masters in Entreprenology (USA), and a Bachelors Degree in LLB (UK).
She is presently the Secretary-General of the World Assembly of Youth (WAY) which is headquartered in Melaka, Malaysia. She is responsible for the administration and running of the Secretariat and Headquarters. She initiates and coordinates regional and international youth-related activities, and also consults on youth strategies and policies at different levels. She also coordinates humanitarian and relief programs around the world and delivers educational and advocacy papers, speeches, and presentations on youth-related issues. She is the main representative of WAY at the United Nations, intergovernmental platforms, non-governmental organizations, and ministries responsible for youth.
Program Lead, UNLEASH
Gregory Pepper is a resourceful entrepreneur, facilitator, and program designer, who has over 6 years of experience creating and leading programs in innovation and sustainability for early-stage ventures, corporates, NGOs, and universities.
He is currently Program Lead at UNLEASH, where he conceptualizes, builds, and launches innovation programs for a global community of over 4000 young talents passionate about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gregory previously organized startup competitions in 15 African countries with Seedstars World and ran a network of co-working spaces in 20+ countries with Seedspace.
He holds an MSc & MA in Global Innovation Design, from Imperial College, the Royal College of Art, Tsinghua University, and Nanyang Technological University.
Board of Directors, TECHFARM Hub
Janine van Throo is a multi- entrepreneur with over 20years of experience in the ICT industry. Amongst numerous leadership roles, she serves on the Board of Directors of TECHFARM Hub.
Janine holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Informatics (University of Amsterdam) and built her entrepreneurial career as Founder & CEO at Sisay Cosmetics, a cosmetics company dedicated to innovating natural hair care, and Head Educator for NISH, a holistic hair care philosophy, and Founder of NISHPRESS magazine. Her achievements were first recognized in 2011 with the African Business Award, in Amsterdam.
Janine made it into the Black Women in Europe Power List in 2018 and in 2020 for her pioneer work in Natural Hair Care in Europe. She is a recipient of the Global Author’s Award in the UK and serves as a mentor with African Woman in Europe (AWE).
CEO & Co-founder, Combeo Consult
During her M.A. in European Studies at the Universities of Osnabrück (Germany), Angers (France), and Murcia (Spain), Marlene developed a passion for intercultural communication and professionalized her skills in French and Spanish.
After working for GIZ, she took on a new challenge as project coordinator and CEO with Combeo Consult – a consulting company focussing on International Cooperation. Her current topics are Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Business Development, which she works on in formats such as training, E-learnings, and (virtual) study tours.
Co-founder & Program Director, Shibuka
Darrell Kofkin is the Co-founder and Program Director of Shibuka, an NGO established in Rwanda just before the 2020 COVID lockdown to guide the sustainable development of young entrepreneurs and innovators through building sustainable collaborative communities leading to more investible and bankable projects. How the community members contribute to the SDGs is very much at the heart of Shibuka’s shared value creation model of enterprise development.
Darrell is also a professor of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship at the University of Westminster (London, UK) where he guides the development of students to innovators and founders. Previously Darrell established two global enterprises, selling one to a VC -backed Management buy-out.
Embracing SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals, the SDG Innovation Challenge is a collaborative effort of numerous local, regional, and global organizations!
Meet Melton Foundation
Co-Organizer
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Meet GrassRoots Hub
Co-Organizer
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Meet Youth Advocates Ghana
Co-Organizer
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Meet TECHFARM Hub
Co-Organizer
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Meet African Youth SDGs Summit
Partner
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Meet UNLEASH
Partner
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Meet Shibuka
Partner
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Meet Digital Times Africa
Partner
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Meet Combeo Consult
Partner
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Meet The Spaceship Academy
Partner
Read BioAn international 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Melton Foundation promotes and enables global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to solve challenges in an interconnected world. Through a global fellowship and collaborative programs in and beyond six global citizenship hubs, the Melton Foundation contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by converging individuals and organizations from diverse cultures, regions, and backgrounds to shape fresh narratives of and shared value through deep collaborations and powerful actions.
GrassRoots Hub is an eco-entrepreneurship and SDGs Innovation Lab with a global community of grassrooters sharing and generating insights and ideas to ensure impact from local communities to a global level. GrassRoots Hub educates, innovates, and incubates start-ups and connects accelerators to leading companies, research institutions, foundations, non-profits, and investors.
Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG) is a Ghana-based NPO dedicated to restoring hope, educating and improving the well-being of vulnerable children, young people, and their communities. Among different projects and initiatives, YAG has been spearheading the organization of the African Youth SDGs Summit, an Africa-wide advocacy platform to further SDG awareness and attainment.
TECHFARM Hub is an Innovation and Business Development Hub promoting disruptive knowledge, mindset, skills, technologies, and resources to upscale young Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Agripreneurs, and Startups who solve pertinent challenges and become productive and profitable.
The African Youth SDGs Summit is Africa’s largest youth forum on the Sustainable Development Goals. Launched in 2017, the Summit has evolved to bring together a multi-sector coalition of youth, development experts, government and UN entities, NGOs, and the private sector to create the Africa we want together.
From 1-3 December 2021, the continent’s largest youth summit in sustainable development convenes again: this time, on the world’s largest stage – online! For more information and to register, click here.
UNLEASH is a global initiative committed to empowering and uniting passionate youth and engaging cross-sector partners to generate and grow solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Every year, UNLEASH unites 1,000 young people from across the world for an annual innovation lab, organizes dozens of local SDG hackathons, incubates top solutions, and trains facilitators to enable others through the UNLEASH methodology. UNLEASH has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential sustainability brands, having engaged 4,000 talents from 167 countries and facilitated the development of 600 SDG solutions with +300 partners. Since 2017, UNLEASH has run three annual Innovation Labs in Denmark, Singapore, and China.
Shibuka is committed to developing strong and sustainable young entrepreneurs
through a range of interventions, working in collaboration with a range of public and
private sector organizations, in Rwanda and across Africa, through an open-source global
knowledge entrepreneurial platform and community.
Shibuka is a local NGO registered through Rwanda Governance Board in Rwanda. Follow their work here.
Digital Times Africa is a multimedia agency that provides a platform promoting African innovation. They curate relevant and credible content for startups, entrepreneurs, and technology lovers in Africa.
See for yourself here!
Combeo Consult was founded in 2014 as a consulting company in international cooperation. Our team offers customized solutions in the fields of training and eLearning, evaluation, security risk management, and project management to customers from the public and private sectors.
Our vision: Let us cooperate internationally and sustainably, profit from diversity, and explore new digital solutions.
The Spaceship Academy is the starting place for first-time impact entrepreneurs to learn how to tangibly solve real-world problems through business. Our online program is self-paced and open to anyone motivated to create change on this planet. We don’t have the time to waste on theories that don’t work on the ground. We focus on tried and true frameworks and tools from environmental-centered design, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and not-for-profit spaces.
It doesn’t matter if you’re thinking of starting a business or not. For impact to be sustainable, it needs to be financially sustainable. We focus on the entrepreneurial mindset and tools that accelerate your participation in a regenerative economy.
