2 sanitation application start-ups get $50,000 as seed funding

Two sanitation application start-ups have been presented with $50,000 as seed funding for emerging tops at the end of the sanitation hackathon.

The competition which started last year with about 30 start-ups saw Nsuo app and iCESSPOOL emerging as winners.

They received $20,000 and $30,000 respectively based on the budget attached to their business proposals.

In October last year, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources through its Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project in partnership with the World Bank  launched a Sanitation Hackathon, which brought together IT professionals to develop a technological solution to problems within a specific timeline.

Presenting the cheque to the winners last Friday in Accra, a Water and Sanitation (WASH) expert at the World Bank, Harold Esseku, said the youth have innovative ideas, but do not have the means of channelling it into a profitable venture.

“So, the Country Director of the World Bank came up with the idea of supporting the youth through such opportunities, and we are here today,” he said.

Mr Esseku said the World Bank has supported the initiative with seed money for the two groups and hoped they would be able to do more.

He urged the beneficiaries not to spend the monies on themselves, but rather use it for the purpose for which it was given to them.

Mr Esseku encouraged them to come up with more ideas and also get other youth to come on board to train them, saying “this, I believe, would help reduce the unemployment rate in the country.”

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, congratulated the beneficiaries for channelling their God-given talents into profitable ventures that would affect the society positively.

Madam Dapaah said getting rid of solid and liquid waste in the society was important to the ministry, “and we are here to give you all the support that you might need,” and urged them to continue to work as a team, be open to each other and complement each other.

Madam Dapaah advised them to utilise the monies given effectively and not disappoint themselves, their parents and the country at large, adding that “we have given you the platform to succeed so you have to succeed.”

ICESSPOOL is a software application developed to provide end-to-end service chain monitoring of liquid waste services in the country, while Nsuo is a platform that facilitates the delivery of water to consumers and the collection of plastic waste.

BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU