Young innovators making a difference in people’s lives

Ten South African innovators will battle it out on Thursday at the SAB Innovation Awards. The awards honour those innovators who come up with products that assist their communities. City Press spoke to some of the young innovators who are making a difference in people’s lives.

Finalists were selected from 125 entries because their ideas showed that they and could be produced in large quantities and be commercialised.

The first place winner will walk away with R1.2 up from R1 million in previous years, while second and third place receive R600 000 and R400 000 respectively.

Several grants of between R100 000 and R150 000 will also be awarded to other innovations finalists. SAB Foundation Manager, Bridgit Evans was impressed by the quality of entries adding that the levels of innovation had been on the rise since the award were conceptualised five years ago.

“We are seeing some incredibly talented young South Africans produce socially informed and transformative products and services that are truly going to help make a change in the lives of those who need it the most,” she said. 

GradesMatch is an innovative system designed to match high school pupils’ results with the minimum entrance requirements at all tertiary institutions, allowing them to choose courses and institutions best suited for them.

It calculates points based on the pupils’ results, gives them feedback on the likelihood of acceptance into a particular institution, and gives them options they can pursue.

For example, if Jabu wants to study medicine at the University of Cape Town, the system will give him feedback on the likelihood of him being accepted, based on his current profile. It also shows him the likelihood of getting accepted at other medical schools.

If it is unlikely that Jabu will be accepted to any medical programme in the country, the system will recommend other career paths he could pursue as alternative degrees or alternative diplomas.

If Jabu doesn’t qualify for the degree or any of the alternative diplomas, the system will then show him courses he could pursue that are offered by technical colleges.

What is exciting about this, says Rudzani Mulaudzi, who is part of the three-man team that came up with this innovation, is “the process happens very quickly”.

“It literally takes less than 10 seconds, and you have your answer,” he says.

Mulaudzi explained that the intention behind this innovation is to provide easier access to higher-learning institutions and allow prospective students to apply for their chosen course in time.

Nneile Nkholise, a 26-year-old mechanical engineer, dreams that patients with maxillofacial deformations will one day get the help they need cheaply and conveniently.

“These are patients who have lost external facial features, such as noses, either due to diseases such as cancer, or accidents. What we want to do is give them good-quality artificial replacements that will enable them to live a normal life,” says Nkholise, who is pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein.

Currently, such patients have to pay as much as R200 000 for traditional prostheses, which in effect puts the procedure far out of reach for most South Africans.

Nkholise’s new technology will reduce the cost to R20 000, and cut the time it takes to get a prosthesis from the usual two weeks to just three days.

“One of the biggest challenges in my work is the perception that a maxillofacial prosthesis is a cosmetic indulgence. But I have seen children who cannot even go to school because parts of their faces are missing. Those are the kinds of people I want to help,” Nkholise explains.

She says that if she wins the innovation award, the first thing she will do is shoot a video that will illustrate the entire process, from scanning the patient and taking measurements, to designing the prosthesis and finally fitting it to the patient.

“This will put South Africa on the map as a key innovator,” she says