Nigerian students make $1m Hult Prize 20-team shortlist

A team of Nigerian students and technology innovators has made it to the 20-team shortlist for the $1 million Hult Prize. They are the only African team still in the competition.  The 2018 Hult Prize with theme ‘Harnessing the Power of Energy to Transform 10 Million Lives’, began from the campus level to regional level […]

A team of Nigerian students and technology innovators has made it to the 20-team shortlist for the $1 million Hult Prize. They are the only African team still in the competition.

 The 2018 Hult Prize with theme ‘Harnessing the Power of Energy to Transform 10 Million Lives’, began from the campus level to regional level until it got to the global stage, while hundreds of participants/teams from many world class universities participated. 

The competition is about creating market ready solutions to the pressing needs of humanity, while maintaining balance between profit and social impact. Its goals are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

The team invented a smart Solar-Powered Irrigation System to ease irrigation farming and, alongside other competitors, would go all-out to make the 4-team shortlist in the UK.

The students, who have made the country proud thus far, are in the International Islamic University of Malaysia. They won the first position at the campus level and proceeded to the regional final in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. 

At the regional finals, there were 60 teams and 200 participants from some of the best universities across the world, including Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Taiwan. 

One of the students and prime mover of the innovation, Faisal Sani Bala, said their work was on a new technology that boosts irrigation farming like never before and also provides light for rural communities without electricity. 

He noted that his entrepreneurial skills to boost science and technology began in his secondary school days after he was inspired by his father, Sani Bala. According to him, his father encouraged him to become an educationist, researcher, agriculturist and an unprecedented inventor in science and technology.

He said along with his other colleagues, they formed the ImpactRays Enterprise Team and that their projection was beyond the competition as they seek to positively impact over five million lives in three years. He pointed out that their work has already been piloted in Waya Dam, Bauchi State, where local farmers are already enjoying the benefit of the new irrigation technology. He said the technology also provides for their household lighting. 

Bala, a graduate assistant lecturer at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, who is currently pursuing a Masters in Mechatronics Engineering in Malaysia, however, stated that a major challenge facing the team in the competition was lack of funds. He noted that while other teams were financed by governments of their respective countries, theirs was through self effort.

The young inventor explained to our correspondent in Jos, that the Malaysian government was to sponsor their project in the competition but later withdrew.

He said another pressing challenge was that he and one of the team members were yet to obtain their UK visas to attend the final 6-team shortlist event which is coming up in about two weeks’ time, adding that the other members of ImpactRays team are at Ashridge Castle in the United Kingdom competing with other teams on various topics.

“Some of us have engaged in dry season farming as students, and have been faced with the challenge of manual flooding irrigation, high cost of fuel, high cost of labour involved in watering, fertilizer wash-off and water shortage. 

“These problems motivated me and Aliyu Dala Bukar to design and implement a smart Solar-Powered Irrigation System to ease irrigation farming through cutting the cost of labour and eliminating the use of petrol. 

“Our innovation makes it possible for farmers with the challenge of water shortage to have three cycles of irrigation, whilst eliminating environmental impact of green house gases released by petrol powered irrigation pumps. 

“The technology also provides light to rural communities without electricity, and local farmers where the project was piloted have started enjoying its irrigation benefits as well as the household lighting benefit,” he said.

 He called on Nigerians and Africans alike to continue to pray for them, saying that whatever the outcome of the competition, their project is already on course and would benefit Nigerians, Africans and the world at large.