Each semi-finalist represents the cutting edge of inclusive, sustainable industrialisation, with solutions spanning AI-powered waste management, smart mobility, circular textiles, energy optimisation, cold-chain innovation, and advanced robotics. Collectively, these innovators are reimagining how technology can accelerate economic opportunity and job creation across Africa and emerging markets.
 

We would like to offer your publication the opportunity to:

    Interview one or more semi-finalist teams attending the Milken MEA Summit in Abu Dhabi (in person or virtually), or
    Speak with Dr Emily Musil, Managing Director at the Milken Institute, on how this program is catalysing cross-regional investment and innovation between Africa and the Middle East. 

This year's semi-finalists include innovators from South Africa, Egypt, Tanzania, Cameroon, Rwanda, and the UAE, with technologies already scaling across five continents. Notably, the UAE-based company Spiro is pioneering affordable electric mobility solutions reshaping transportation across Africa and beyond. For context, AI is projected to add nearly US$3 trillion to Africa's economy by 2033, underscoring the Prize's focus on technology-driven manufacturing and cross-regional collaboration.

The 10 semifinalists for the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Program in AI and Manufacturing: 

1.      BleagLee

Team Lead: Juveline Ngum Ngwa

Based in Cameroon, BleagLee is a waste management and recycling company that uses AI and specialized software to rapidly identify, collect, and transform plastic, agricultural, and electronic waste into high-value inputs like engineered recycled polymers, 3D printing filaments, and bio-based carbon materials.

2.     DataProphet

Team Lead: Ridwaan Seedat
Based in South Africa, DataProphet is an industrial intelligence technology and advisory company providing production intelligence solutions for machine builders and manufacturers.

3.    Digitech Oasis Limited

Team Lead: Ayan Mohamed
Based in the United Kingdom, Digitech Oasis is an award?winning AI and robotics company developing robotic systems and industrial automation platforms to modernize warehouse and fulfillment operations across industries.

4.     Freshpack Technologies

Team Lead: Editha Mshiu
Based in Tanzania, Freshpack Technologies is a cold-storage solution company pioneering AI-powered cooling innovation to reduce food waste for Africa's informal markets.

5.     GreenBDG Africa

Team Lead: Songo Didiza
Based in South Africa, Green Building Design Group Africa (GreenBDG Africa) is a tech-enabled advisory firm offering climate-smart infrastructure solutions and energy optimisation strategies for real estate and manufacturing clusters.

6.    INDOS

Team Lead: Ahmed Nounou
Based in Egypt, INDOS is an industrial digitisation company transforming labour-intensive manufacturing floors into AI-powered, data-driven environments to boost productivity and drive quality in real-time.

7.     Spiro

Team Lead: Kaushik Burman
Based in the United Arab Emirates, Spiro provides accessible and affordable mobility solutions through manufacturing innovative, eco-friendly electric transportation.

8.     Thola Inc.

Team Lead: Nneile Nkholise
Based in the United States, Thola is an AI-powered software platform that provides real-time energy monitoring, forecasting, and ESG performance insights to help industrial facilities become insurable, resilient, and grid-conscious.

9.     Torchit

Team Lead: Hunny Bhagchandani

Based in India, Torchit is a social-tech enterprise that designs and manufactures affordable, AI-powered assistive technologies to empower persons with disabilities with mobility, literacy, and digital independence.

10.   Toto Safi Limited

Team Lead: Faith Waraga

Based in Rwanda, Toto Safi is an AI-enabled, circular textile manufacturing platform, enabling women-led tailoring cooperatives to produce reusable hygiene products such as diapers and period pants at scale.
 
Now in its fourth year, the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Program has brought together visionary thinkers across sectors, from agriculture to financial technology, equipping them with the capital, resources, and network needed to push their ideas forward. Since launching the prize in 2021, the prize community has grown to over 12,000 innovators and entrepreneurs from 136 countries.  For more information about the semi-finalists and the Milken-Motsepe Innovation Prize Program, visit https://milkenmotsepeprize.org/ 
 
ABOUT THE MILKEN INSTITUTE 
The Milken Institute is a nonprofit; nonpartisan think tank focused on accelerating measurable progress on the path to a meaningful life. With a focus on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, we bring together the best ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues through the lens of what's pressing now and what's coming next. For more information, visit milkeninstitute.org. 
 
ABOUT THE MOTSEPE FOUNDATION 
The Motsepe Foundation was founded in 1999 by Dr. Patrice Motsepe and his wife, Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe. The goal of the Motsepe Foundation is to contribute toward eradicating poverty and to sustainably improve the living conditions and standards of living of poor, unemployed, and marginalized people in South Africa, Africa, and the world. In January 2013, Dr. Patrice Motsepe and Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe joined the Giving Pledge, which was started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. Dr. Patrice Motsepe and his wife committed to giving half of their wealth to the poor and for philanthropic purposes during their lifetime and beyond. For more information, visit https://www.motsepefoundation.org/.