Kenyan Robert Mburu is this year's winner of the GE Mentorship Experience after his prize, a mobile alarm system, scooped first position at last week's 2010 Maker Faire Africa symposium.

Mr Mburu's system works by using a mobile phone that links an alarm system to a camera and television.

It was inspired after he became a victim of crime.

"When my television got stolen, I was inspired to work towards finding home grown solutions to Africa's problems," said the winner.

His winning submission also uses readily found home-made gadgets which use independent power sources and solar energy which is more accessible to most Kenyans than electricity.

By winning the competition which attracts participants from the entire continent, Robert Muturi will have the chance to take his invention to the next level by working with the General Electric's (GE) chief scientist Asokan Thangavelu through a mentorship programme.

The GE Mentorship Experience is the main prize of the competition which is sponsored by General Electric, the second largest global conglomerate with research and development being the aim of the multinational.

The programme is meant to tap into local talent which can help find solutions for African problems according to GE's Commercial Director for East Africa Deo Onyango.

"On a day-to-day basis, GE strives to find solutions that contribute to addressing Africa's challenges. GE cannot achieve this alone and we encourage Africa's inventors to go back to their home countries and share the experience gained over the past two days with their counterparts".

In particular, GE is looking for energy efficient and profitable products to supporting African manufacturing.

Other innovative projects that were displayed at the two-day conference held at the University of Nairobi were water saving devices for agriculture to alternative energy designs from recycled projects and social media applications for mobile phones.