The Safaricom Foundation last week launched a Ksh. 50 million fund which targets investors in social innovation who need technical and entrepreneurship support to develop and deploy mobile technology solutions.
The fund dubbed Technology For Good will empower young innovators to create technological solutions that leverage on mobile technologies. The idea is to give young developers technical support they need in order to create impactful innovations that can be used for development. The ideas have to be viable, sustainable and commercially viable.
Criteria:
- Social impact /People focus– The project has Kenyan people as the key focus. It articulates exactly what the changes will be in their lives and in the long term
- Needs Based/Evidence informed – The project articulates very well the social need that will be addressed; It is evidence informed – either through surveys or desktop reviews.
- Innovation and Technology – The project clearly demonstrates unique innovation; how different to do things. There is evidence use of mobile technology. There is evidence of the required capacity and competences within the team to deliver the product.
- Scale (number of beneficiaries) – The project demonstrates the potential to benefit a large number of people when it is completed
- Strategic link to Safaricom Foundation – The project fits very well with the Foundation’s strategic areas of focus and any of the partnership models.
- Sustainability – The innovation must demonstrate how the project continues to operate and benefit many Kenyans beyond the funding. The overall approach will be to have the project sustainable beyond donor funding.
Applications are open now and end on October 1, 2015. The forms are available on the Safaricom Foundation website http://safaricomfoundation.org/technology_for_good
The projects that are selected will be incubated at the Strathmore University iLab for 3 months where they will get technical support, mentorship and expert training. Five innovations will then move to the next phase where they will be scaled up.
The innovations must be mobile-based, of public benefit, demonstrate sustainable scalability, offer value for money and be in line with Safaricom Foundations strategic pillars which include health, education, economic empowerment, arts and culture, water, environment and disaster relief.
