A Nigerian, Ogbonnaya Bassey has been announced as one of the winners of the Single Board Challenge in the ITU Telecom World 2015 Young Innovators competition sponsored by Intel.
The winning entries, which were selected from 124 applications across 34 countries, will see Bassey attend the Telecom World 2015 event, a global ICT innovation platform for government, corporates and SMEs holding from Monday, October 12 to Thursday, October 15 in Budapest, Hungary.
Bassey’s entry SolarKobo is an innovation that will provide solar power systems with zero-upfront financing in Nigeria as a cheaper, more reliable and cleaner electricity source than the private gasoline generators which are widely used to supplement the insufficient public electricity supply.
The innovation will also allow small businesses and families to benefit from solar systems for relatively low monthly fees and will use single board devices for remote monitoring and customer payment systems.
Elated at his win, Bassey said: “Most of the ingredients for our success exist. The need is critical, the demand for our solution is proven, the technology is tested and we have a sustainable model. We applied to the Young Innovators Competition to create awareness for our cause, get seed funding, investment, mentorship, and access to help from Intel in developing smarter systems.”
Gordon Graylish, Vice President and General Manager, Governments and World Ahead, Intel Corporation, said: “We are extremely honoured to be part of such a great initiative. We are even more impressed with the fantastic work from the young innovators. As a company, we are always looking to work with the brightest minds to make a positive impact, develop new technologies and make a difference.
Part of this is creating new jobs in ICT and helping these fresh ideas to thrive. The brilliant ideas put forward – whether it is helping the blind to communicate in a digital world or encouraging more people to use solar power – show great ambition and we are proud to provide Intel architecture to bring these ideas to life.”
