Data354, a startup from Ivory Coast, won first place and will represent West Africa at the grand finale of the EDF Pulse Africa competition. The award ceremony was held on Thursday, November 09, 2023 at Sofitel Ivoire in Abidjan during the West African Stage of EDF Pulse Africa Tour 2023. The event was held under the patronage of Mr. Mamadou Touré, Minister of Youth Promotion, Professional Integration and Civic Service.
This year's West African stage of the EDF Pulse Africa competition focused on youth engagement and included exhibitions and panel discussions aimed at promoting the energy sector. The culmination of this celebration of energy innovation was an awards ceremony, with two prizes for Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
Of the 45 entries received from 10 sub-regional countries, only eight were shortlisted and one winner emerged. On November 08, 2023, in front of an expert jury, start-up competitors participated in a pitch competition where one project stood out and earned the trophy: Data354's BEEPAS project. BEEPAS is a web app for measuring carbon and biomass stocks, as well as vegetation indices, with the aim of developing agroforestry zones. A special prize was awarded to Schrödinger Technologie, a Nigerian company, for their portable solar-powered water purification device.
The EDF Pulse Africa competition will culminate in the grand final this December. Data354 (Ivory Coast), Pylon (YC S21) (Egypt), Knights Energy (Kenya), SeaH4 (South Africa), Atarec (Morocco) and Diwa Innovation (Cameroon) will compete for the Pulse 2023 Grand Prize.
