Technology gurus from Kenya are among those invited to apply for a grant in a $1 million (Sh132.4 million) kitty dubbed the Africa Online Safety Fund (AOSF) organised by South African-based capital advisory firm Impact Amplifier (IA) with financial support from Google.
The contestants, to be drawn from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa will be required to pitch solutions to challenges such as cyberbullying and harassment, terrorist recruitment and promotion, fake news and financial scams.
While the dramatic increase in Africa’s internet access over the past decade has opened new opportunities for socio-economic development, IA says, so has the growth been for new challenges.
“There are three categories of funding: Transformative, Maturing and Catalytic. The Transformative projects are intended to be larger in scale, reach multiple geographies and/or potentially large numbers of beneficiaries, and be scalable as a solution,” said IA in a statement to newsrooms.
“The Maturing projects are intended to test ideas at a larger scale, try new ideas within existing projects, and reach new audiences while the Catalytic projects are intended to be smaller, targeted, and potentially only locally or culturally specific.”
Transformative projects will attract up to $50,000 (Sh6.6 million), while Maturing and Catalytic projects will bag up to $25,000 (Sh3.3 million) and $10,000 (Sh1.3 million) respectively.
