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Africa Energy Ideas Competition 2018 for Young Professionals

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After School Africa
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The Nigeria Energy Forum is delighted to invite young professionals to make submissions for the 2016 Africa Energy Essay Contest. 

Application Deadline: 20th February 2018

About the Award: The Africa Energy Ideas Competition is for early-stage business ideas. Across Africa, the key energy challenge is how to electrify millions of households, remote communities and small-scale entrepreneurs as quickly as possible. This competition engages young professionals from Africa to develop innovative ideas with a focus on solutions that are sustainable, affordable and commercially viable to urgently tackle the African energy challenge. It is supported by the NEF2017 corporate sponsors.

The contest follows the UN’s declaration of the decade 2014-2024 as the ‘Decade of Sustainable Energy for All’. The contest is open to all young professionals with an interest in the area of sustainable energy. We define young professionals as anyone under the age of 35.

Eligibility:

  • Young professionals between the ages of 18 and 35 years from Africa are invited to participate in the competition.
  • Applications may be submitted by individuals or a team of up to three people.
  • Teams may be formed across different schools, institutions, companies, countries etc.
  • Individuals or teams may submit multiple applications.

Selection Criteria: The first round of submissions will be evaluated using the following attributes:

  1. Significance: alternative energy services for powering agriculture, education, healthcare, MSMEs etc.; and be significant enough to impact large numbers of people, households and/or businesses.
  2. Originality and creativity: present solutions that are original, creative in areas that are either underdeveloped or severely underdeveloped in research and literature.
  3. Feasibility: submissions should be realistic, practical rather than just theory, cost efficient and outline commercial arrangements that address obvious roadblocks, using a specific case study.
  4. Clarity: ideas should be presented in a clear and concise manner.

Prizes: The finalists and winners will be selected by a panel of academics and experienced development professionals from public and private sector institutions. Winners of the competition get the opportunity to:

  • Present their ideas at the 2017 Nigeria Energy Forum, in Lagos, Nigeria.
  • Benefit from unique networking opportunities with other young leaders as well as some of the most senior decision-makers in government, international development, academia and the private sector.
  • Attend a range of business development workshops, receive support from a dedicated start-up incubator and a cash prize of up to $1,000.

How to Submit Essay

  • Submissions must be in Microsoft Word or PDF format by email to info@thenef.org.
  • The subject line of the email should follow the format: [Country] Title of the Project.
  • Submissions that exceed the word count may be disqualified.
  • Shortlisted submissions would be invited to participate in the final round with a full proposal and short 2-minute video.

Visit the Contest Webpage for Details

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  • After School Africa is the go-to source for young and ambitious people looking to explore opportunities for education, development and relevance.

This post was last modified on May 28, 2018 5:25 pm

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