By Sallieu S Kanu
At the culminating event of the Mining Community Innovation Challenge (MCIC) hackathon and data competition, held on November 30, 2022, Team Smart Cure, a start-up with a data-driven solution to increase access to clean water, took first place honors.
Team Digital Agro, a start-up that is creating employment opportunities for youth with a platform that connects greenhouses with young workers and produce buyers, took second place.
The objective of the competition, co-organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI), National Minerals Agency (NMA), and Sensi Tech Innovation Hub, was for young Sierra Leonean innovators to prototype data-driven ideas for digital solutions that will benefit mining communities, with a path to creating viable start-ups.
The MCIC pitch night event in Freetown brought to an energetic close a two-month youth and data engagement initiative, supported by IFC’s From Disclosure to Development (D2D) program and BHP Foundation.
A hackathon held in September of this year kicked off the initiative, involving 16 teams, with 93 youth participants representing Freetown and 12 mining communities, including Kono, Rutile, Bo, and Lunsar.
At the end of the hackathon, judges selected five teams for a two-month, intensive digital and business skills learning and mentoring program. The learning program was designed to help teams further develop their business concepts, all of which use of open data and digital tools to address specific mining community challenges: increasing access to clean water, creating employment opportunities for youth in agriculture and youth with disabilities, improving health and safety, and raising awareness on gender inequality in mining communities.
The five finalist teams also visited the Lunsar mining community to socialize their concepts with community members and collect data they needed—a field trip facilitated by the Lunsar Youth Organization. In addition, they received guidance on positioning their start-ups to access future funding opportunities and implement their solutions.
During the pitch night event, the five finalist teams presented their start-up concepts to a panel of six distinguished judges, including several from mining companies. The winning teams received awards equivalent to $2,000 (first place) and $1,000 (runner up) to support scale up. They will also have opportunities for additional expert mentorship so they can refine and ultimately roll out their businesses. The skills and connections all teams gained through the project will help them in their future work towards using digital innovations for addressing local issues, while boosting their qualifications to secure jobs in the digital economy.
D2D is a global initiative that helps governments and companies improve data sharing and use practices to enhance engagement with mining communities. Led by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, in partnership with the BHP Foundation, the initiative leverages digital technology and publicly available digital data, known as open data, and includes support for communities on how to make use of the information shared.