The Sahara Foundation Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) afterschool programme was designed in partnership with STEMCafe to mold and build up an army of smart technologists and creative thinkers with the knowledge and skills they need to proffer solutions to global issues through interest in STEAM subjects.
This year, 150 students from Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda participated in the programme. Participants who were divided into groups of five or five were taught how to leverage the optimal application of physical computing and additive manufacturing to propose solutions to the problems around them.
Across participating countries, participants in a national and regional demo day competition got the opportunity to present the prototype designs of their innovative solutions targeting sectors such as agriculture, security, and health.
On August 22nd, 2022, after a keenly contested regional demo day competition, the ‘Watchmen’ group from Igbobi College, Lagos, Nigeria emerged regional winners. ‘Ziggo PWS’ group from St Peters, Kampala, Uganda finished as 1st runner-up, while ‘Venue inventors’ from Olympic High School, Nairobi, Kenya finished as 2nd runner-up.
Going into 2023, we intend to expand this initiative into more countries because we truly believe in its capacity to create confident problem solvers and empowered future leaders for Africa.