Jacob’s Ladder Africa’s Greenlabs Demo Day showcases cutting-edge climate solutions in East Africa

Jacob’s Ladder Africa’s greenlabs Program Showcases Innovative Climate Solutions at Demo Day
Jacob’s Ladder Africa hosted its highly anticipated greenlabs Demo Day, spotlighting innovative climate solutions from emerging green entrepreneurs. Held in Nairobi, the event marked the culmination of the Powering Food Systems Innovation Challenge, a unique hackathon-style competition aimed at transforming food systems across East Africa using renewable energy.
The competition brought together dynamic youth-led teams from various counties across Kenya, including Baringo, Busia, Homa Bay, Kajiado, and many more. Participants presented scalable, renewable energy-driven solutions addressing key challenges in food production, processing, transportation, and waste management. The initiative aligns with Jacob’s Ladder Africa’s mission to empower young innovators while addressing the dual challenges of climate change and youth unemployment.
Among the innovations presented were solutions that reimagined agriculture and food systems with a sustainability lens. These included:
Solar Compost IT: An in-vessel composting machine that accelerates the decomposition of organic waste while producing compost, bio-fertilizer, and pellets, significantly reducing methane emissions.
NuRa: A clean energy solution leveraging concentrated solar power (CSP) to generate steam for large-scale kitchen operations.
Smart Hive Optimization: A solar-powered IoT sensor designed to monitor hive conditions, ensuring optimal performance in beekeeping.
TEAtrans: A solar-powered ventilated container equipped with fans to provide airflow immediately after tea leaves are plucked, preserving quality and reducing spoilage.
These innovations highlighted the potential of renewable energy to drive sustainable agriculture and food systems.
The event emphasized the need to support young entrepreneurs in building resilient businesses. Speaking at the event, Karen Chelang’at, Chief Innovation Officer at Jacob’s Ladder Africa, noted, “Youth unemployment is a critical issue that we aim to tackle by creating opportunities for and by the youth through this incubation program. Many startups fail within their first two years due to weak foundations, and we are committed to equipping them with the skills and resources to succeed.”
Participants of the program underwent extensive mentorship and capacity-building sessions before the Demo Day. These sessions focused on key entrepreneurial skills, including business modeling, pitch development, and market research, ensuring the finalists were well-prepared to showcase their ideas
From L-R Marceline Obuya, Co-Founder, Jacob’s Ladder Africa; Urbanus Mwagangi, Empire Innovations; Nicholus Kimali, Technical Director, Ubuntu WaterHub Africa.
An expert panel of judges comprising industry leaders evaluated the finalists based on their solutions’ scalability, innovation, and impact on women and youth. The panel included notable figures such as Luiza Munyua from the African Union, Bilha Ndirangu of Great Carbon Valley, and Omondi Kasidhi of Yara International.
1st Place: Urbanus Lubano from Empire Innovations, awarded Ksh 200,000 for creating renewable energy-powered machinery for sustainable agriculture.
2nd Place: Alfred Mutethia, Steven Mwaura, and Victor Gituma from Solar Nest, whose poultry farming solution integrates solar tracking technology, ESP32 microcontrollers, and cameras.
3rd Place: Bettinah Maruti from iLoop KE and Logistics, addressing food spoilage and storage issues for vendors in low-income areas.
All finalists received full sponsorship to join Jacob’s Ladder Africa’s nine-month greenlabs incubation program. This initiative offers tailored mentorship, industry networking, and green entrepreneurship training to transform their concepts into sustainable, market-ready startups.
The Demo Day reflected Jacob’s Ladder Africa’s commitment to fostering innovation and addressing East Africa’s most pressing environmental challenges. By providing young entrepreneurs with the necessary tools and opportunities, the greenlabs program is creating a pipeline of sustainable solutions that not only tackle climate change but also create economic opportunities.
As Jacob’s Ladder Africa continues to support the next generation of green innovators, events like this underscore the transformative potential of renewable energy and the ingenuity of East Africa’s youth.