Creatives Garage & Lewa Wildlife Marathon have been are among 12 finalists in the Google Impact Challenge Kenya. The initiative by Google seeks to identify and fund non-profits and fund the most innovative ones using technology in their projects.
The 12 non-profits will receive a total of Ksh. 200 million ($2 million) in grants. The funding will be allocated in tranches, to be assigned to each oragnization as they reach a set of predefined milestones specific to each venture. Google will also provide support and training to the organizations to scale their projects.
Judges in the challenge were:
- Dr. Tegla Loroupe, former Champion Marathoner and Philanthropist
- Caroline Mutoko, One Young World Counsellor and GM of Radio Africa Group
- Charles Murito, Country Manager, Google Kenya
- Dr. Manu Chandaria, Industrialist, Philanthropist
- Janet Mawiyoo, Community Empowerment, Development & Governance Expert
- Salim Amin, Filmmaker, Entrepreneur & Philanthropist
- Tabitha Karanja, Founder and CEO, Keroche Breweries.
The 12 non-profits have received funding as follows:
- Lewa Wildlife Marathon – Winner of the Public Vote – Ksh. 25 million
- African Prisons Project – Winner Judges Vote – Ksh. 25 million
- Startup Lions – Winner Judges Vote – Ksh. 25 million
- Ujuzi Kilimo Solutions – Winner Judges Vote – Ksh. 25 million
- AfriScout – Finalist -Ksh. 12.5 million
- Creatives Garage – Finalist – Ksh. 12.5 million
- GiveDirectly Kenya Finalist -Ksh. 12.5 million
- Global Minimum InLab – Finalist – Ksh. 12.5 million
- M-Shule – Finalist – Ksh. 12.5 million
- NairoBits – Finalist – Ksh. 12.5 million
- Sauti – Finalist – Ksh. 12.5 million
- The Somo Project – Finalist – Ksh. 12.5 million
The challenge was launched in May 2018 in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa and during the six-month campaign period, over 5000 entries were submitted from the three countries, with over 1000 entries from Kenya.