Highlights of the 2021 Oxford Africa conference
AfOx is proud to support the 10th edition of the Oxford Africa Conference 'Rewriting Our Story & Asserting Africa’s Future', held virtually from 28-30th May 2021. Inaugurated by Dr Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organisation, the Conference highlighted innovations and progress in health, economics, climate and politics in Africa.
The annual conference is organised by the Oxford University Africa Society, a student society based at the University of Oxford. Over 270 participants from 130 cities joined the Oxford Africa Conference this year. Held over three days, the Conference featured panel discussions, an Innovation Fair and a COVID-19 African Innovation Seed Fund competition.
Over 30 experts across the African continent and the world explored solutions and exchanged best practises for Africa’s development in areas of economics, health, politics, and the environment. Speakers included Mr Abebe Selassie, Director at the IMF, Ms Linda Olagunju, Founder of a wholly African female owned independent power producer, and human rights activist, Ms Hajer Sharief. Strategies to promote financial inclusion, intergenerational leadership, sustainable economic development, and conflict resolution were discussed.
Oxford Africa Innovation Fair
11 entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to showcase their innovations aimed at addressing critical challenges faced by African economies and societies. The entrepreneurs benefitted from masterclasses with leading experts in marketing, finance and leadership. The Innovation Fair also provided networking and mentorship opportunities and a pitch competition. The 3 winners were:
- Mazi Mobility: a Kenyan Mobility company with the vision to transform current transport systems to a smart, efficient, clean and shared form of mobility.
- Hustlenomics, an impact-driven social enterprise providing affordable and sustainable housing options in South Africa
- Sanaa Space: empowering local artists by democratising art ownership for everyone
COVID-19 African Innovation Seed Fund
In addition to AfOx support, Oxford University’s Vice Chancellor’s office provided five grants of £1,000 grants each to graduate students developing entrepreneurial ventures relating to COVID-19 in Africa. The five winners were:
- Godwin Nwangele’s Energy for Health Initiative: Godwin is developing a smart technology that connects hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa to solar power, especially for cooling energy demand.
- Segun Afolaranmi’s The Ganglion Initiative: The Ganglion Initiative is a youth-led, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to solving challenges relating to educational progress in Nigeria
- Josephine Agyeman-Duah’s PreCare: Josephine has developed a virtual neurodevelopmental assessment tool, based on her PhD research, that can assess neurodevelopmental challenges for children born pre-term.
- Emmanuel Opoku’s Improving Water Pricing Strategies Admist Ghana's COVID-19 Free Water Policy: The Government of Ghana has implemented a free water policy since March 2020. Emmanuel plans to use his funds to conduct a research project to determine the effects of the Ghana free water policy on water use in Kumasi, Ghana.
- Sanya Samtani’s The Right of Access to Educational Materials: Access to published educational materials in South Africa is particularly hampered by its apartheid-era Copyright Act 1978. Sanya will use these funds to publish the work of her thesis into an open access format so that it can be freely accessed by all, especially those in the Global South.
The Oxford Africa Conference is organised by African postgraduate students currently studying at Oxford.