Esther Kimani, a University of Eldoret graduate, is among the winners of the 2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Award.
The Waislitz Global Citizen Award is an annual contest that recognizes the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty.
This year’s awards saw two Kenyans, Esther Kimani, and Peter Njeri, walk away with Sh25 million in prizes. Kimani, the CEO of Farmer Line Technologies, bagged the Waislitz Global Citizen Disruptor Award for her innovation.
Her company helps farmers to get ahead of pests and pathogens through a solar-powered artificial intelligence-based crop pest and disease detection device in the fight against hunger.
“Her inspiration comes from experiencing farm losses from pests and diseases first-hand as she grew up farming the slopes of the Aberdare mountains. Her technology has so far impacted over 60,000 farmers in Kenya,” read a statement from the Waislitz Foundation.
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The computer science graduate received a cash prize of $75,000 (Sh10.7 million) that will enable her firm to help more than 200,000 farmers and expand to other African countries such as Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
On the hand, Peter Njeri, the CEO of Mega Gas Alternative Energy, was awarded Sh$100,000(Sh14.3 million) for emerging as the overall winner of the 2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Award.
His company converts plastic waste into clean cooking gas, enabling over 10,000 low-income families to access clean energy. The funds will help him to expand his business to support an additional 5,400 people.
”When we first conceived these awards almost 10 years ago, we wanted to shine a light on those heroes working at the grassroots level to end global poverty. We also wanted to encourage others to do the same,’’ Alex Waislitz, Chairman and Founder of Waislitz Foundation said.
This year’s contestants were evaluated based on individual merit in five key areas: global citizenship, proof of concept, disruption, scalability, and adaptability.