This archive report was first published on 23 August 2019.
On August 23, 2019, the Climate Launch Pad Competition, the biggest global green ideas contest, kicked off a rigorous training session for start-up enterprises in Kenya.
The two-day bootcamp, held at Strathmore University, aimed to equip more than 30 young enterprises and their affiliates with the necessary skills to take off with their innovative ideas.
Organized by the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC), the annual event seeks to identify potential clean-tech ideas in the world and create a stage for these ideas to take off by networking them with potential investors and putting them in the global limelight.
Speaking during the launch, KCIC's Chief Executive Officer, Edward Mungai, welcomed the participants and encouraged them to continue advocating for climate mitigation, as their enterprises were poised to become pacesetters in the green world.
Frans Nauta, the founder of the Climate Launch Pad, emphasized that the bootcamp would be an intensive learning session coupled with networking and practical sessions, where participants would have the chance to re-sell their ideas and be selected to proceed to the national and global finals.
This year's global competitions will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Last year, Kenya had one entry among the top 16 finalists in the global finals held in Scotland, with Eric Kariuki presenting his idea of Aqua Ethanol, which converts the invasive water hyacinth at Lake Victoria into renewable fuel.
Kenya Climate Innovation Center supports start-up enterprises that come up with innovations addressing climate change, mainly centered around renewable energy, agribusiness, energy sustainability, water management, commercial forestry, and waste management.
