Knights and Apps and Octavia Carbon won the Eastern African stage of the EDF Pulse Africa Tour, which is part of the more global EDF Pulse Africa innovation competition.
Six candidates will take part in the grand finale, which will be held on December in Paris. Embodying EDF's commitment to Africa, the EDF Pulse Africa competition supports the continent's most promising innovative start-ups to meet Africa's current energy challenges and contribute to its economic development.
The EDF Pulse Africa Tour, launched in 2019, is conducted in partnership with African incubators and other EDF institutional partners, with the objective of meeting innovative start-ups on the ground. During the Eastern African final, which took place the 6 th and 7 th of September during the Africarena Nairobi Summit, 2 candidates stood out among the 28 shortlisted start-ups, demonstrating the diversity of the Eastern African entrepreneurial and Start-Up ecosystem, which is among the most dynamic on the continent.
The entrepreneurs presented and defended their innovations in front of a jury of experts in front of a distinguished jury of regional experts, composed of Christ Anderson AHOUA-BOUA, Head of Communications of EDF Africa, Dennis KEYA, Country Manager of EDF Kenya, Vere SHABA, Founder & Director of ESG, Climate & Sustainability of Green Design Africa, Jérôme GUIDIDJAGO, Head of Innovation of BBox Kenya and Javier LINARES, Senior Venture Builder of Catalyst Fund.
At the end of this Eastern African stage, the jury finally awarded two prizes (a first prize, a "special prize for innovation in climate change solutions") to two Kenyan entrepreneurs:
• The first prize was awarded to the start-up Knights and Apps. This company is designing renewable energy solutions for industrial, commercial, and residential applications that enable individuals and organizations to be part of a sustainable green energy powered world.
• The jury's special prize for innovation in climate change solutions was awarded to the start-up Octavia Carbon. The company aims to build and deploys Direct Air Carbon Capture (DACC) machines in Kenya. They are planning to make Kenya the world's most cost-effective place to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere by 2025.
At the end of the final, which will take place on December, 2 winners will be able to win up to €20,000, and join the EDF Pulse Africa Accelerator, an acceleration program bringing together players committed to accompanying and supporting the growth of African "nuggets" in the field of energy access.
“The EDF Pulse Awards in Africa are the cornerstone of a broader Pan-African Open Innovation strategy, nurturing the brightest innovations from the African continent. Knights and Apps and Octavia Carbon, the winning startups, exemplify pioneering spirit, showcasing solutions that have the potential to reshape the energy landscape and significantly benefit local communities. Congratulations!”, says Dennis KEYA, Managing Director of EDF Kenya.
This initiative is a continuation of the EDF Pulse awards. Launched in 2012, these awards have fostered the emergence and support of 1,500 innovative projects in France, the UK and Italy, as part of EDF's strategy to identify potential partners, develop its own ecosystem and give visibility to young innovative African structures, in order to gain agility and respond more appropriately to market needs.
As a reminder, EDF has been present for 50 years in more than 14 African countries, with more than 500,000 households electrified according to a "low carbon" model that favors sustainable and accessible energy.
About EDF
As a major player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated energy company active in all businesses: generation, transmission, distribution, energy trading, energy sales and energy services. EDF group is a world leader in low-carbon energy, having developed a diverse production mix based mainly on nuclear and renewable energy (including hydropower). It is also investing in new technologies to support energy transition. EDF’s raison d’être is to build a net zero energy future with electricity and innovative solutions and services, to help save the planet and drive well-being and economic development. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 40.3 million customers (1), of whom 30.3 million in France (2). It generated consolidated sales of €143.5 billion in 2022.
(1) Customers are counted per delivery site. A customer can have two delivery points: one for electricity and another one for gas.
(2) Including ÉS (Électricité de Strasbourg) and SEI
