A better future for Tanzania

Creating a better future with the solutions of today: that’s the guiding principle of Fondation Botnar. Founded in Basel in 2003, this philanthropic organization is committed to improving health and well-being for young people in cities around the world — and this includes the opportunity to use digital technologies.

In 2018, Fondation Botnar approached Creaholic to help apply AI and digital solutions to improve the health and well-being of young people in Tanzania. Our tasks included the conception, planning and execution of a team competition for young innovators: the “Botnar Challenge”.

Instead of building a custom application process, we used the HeroX challenge platform, through which the individual teams could submit their solution concepts for consideration. As an advantage, leveraging a specialized, ready-to-use platform made it much simpler to organise and administer the Challenge. This platform was a communication channel and document submission portal for the Challenge participants.

At the same time, Shape History, the marketing partner of Fondation Botnar, helped create marketing materials such as press releases and digital flyers. These were then sent to Botnar partners for further distribution. A wide network including UNICEF, Impact Hub, and Women Deliver promoted the Botnar Challenge in order to attract participation by young, innovative teams from around the world.

Local contacts played a key role in marketing. The majority of the 47 teams that submitted their innovative digital solutions as part of the Challenge came from Tanzania itself and were recruited by Sahara Ventures.

Of the 47 teams, 12 made it to the semi-finals. Sahara Ventures put Creaholic’s coaching concept into practice: the semi-finalists worked with innovation experts and received advice on the further development of their concepts. After one more round of evaluations, the four finalists were selected.

The final pitches occurred at World Summit AI in Amsterdam and Sahara Sparks 2018 in Tanzania — in each case two teams competed against each other. At these events the finalists participated in a 1.5 hour Creaholic workshop on Human Centred Design. They also had the chance to exchange ideas with experts and innovators at both conferences, and ultimately to present their projects before a jury. The winners of both events received financial support, with which they could start implementing their ideas.