KEY POINTS

• Seven university fellows pitched tech solutions at the AfriVatech Grand Pitch event.
• Tife Kerry won with an organic fertiliser project, scoring 84 percent.
• Top three finalists join the AfriVatech team with access to global funding.

Seven young Nigerian researchers pitched technology ideas to a panel of judges this week at the AfriVatech iResearch Fellowship Cohort One Grand Pitch, competing for spots on a research team that promises global exposure and startup funding for the winners.

The AfriVatech iResearch Fellowship Nigeria event, held virtually, brought together fellows drawn from major Nigerian universities, each presenting a project built around a real African problem. Topics ranged from adulterated honey and antimicrobial resistance to hypertension management and soil health. A former Egyptian Minister of Health, Dr Halla Zaid, sat on the judging panel alongside Senior Special Assistant to the President on Intergovernmental Affairs, Dr Wasiu Olanrewaju-Smart.

What the Other Fellows Proposed

Tife Kerry took first place with a project titled “Green Cycle: Organic Fertiliser Production,” which converts agricultural waste into fertiliser as an alternative to synthetic inputs. Kerry scored 84 percent.

Mercy Sado placed second at 67 percent with research on adulterated honey, proposing a traceability system using QR codes and trusted harvesters. While Boluwatife Balogun rounded out the top three at 64.5 percent with “Sentisense Africa,” a real-time surveillance system targeting antimicrobial resistance.

Furthermore, the remaining presentations covered a digital continuity model for managing hypertension and diabetes in Nigeria by Sekinah Adegbite, a biosecurity-focused project by Aminat Adeshiyan called “BioSecured Futures,” a multimodal artificial intelligence framework for health surveillance by Tolulope Oladipo, and Winner Bakati’s “RedBarn Agrihub,” which targeted year-round vegetable production at the household level.

Africa Must Rescue Itself, Official Says at AfriVatech iResearch Fellowship Nigeria

Olanrewaju-Smart further used his remarks to push back against the idea that external investment or foreign-designed solutions would drive Africa’s development. He told the fellows their work was exactly the kind of homegrown effort the continent needed more of.

“At this critical time, no one is going to rescue Africa other than we Africans ourselves,” he said, urging greater investment in STEM education and research across the continent.

The AfriVatech iResearch Fellowship Nigeria’s top three finalists will now join the AfriVatech research team, where they will gain access to international networks and also potential funding to develop their projects into working technology startups. Zaid, in her closing remarks, encouraged all seven fellows to keep building on their ideas regardless of their final rankings.