The Taimaka Project

CUSTOM AGRICULTURE CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Taimaka was awarded D-Prize pilot funding for the distribution of post-harvest credit and storage to help farmers save and avoid lean season poverty and hunger.

Learn more about the Custom Agriculture Challenge and why distributing proven agricultural interventions can greatly improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The Taimaka Project’s mission to tackle food insecurity in Northeastern Nigeria began with the implementation of a post-harvest loans (PHL) program that delivered crop storage bags and a small loan to rural farmers to help them save their crops and sell when prices were up to 50% higher.

After a large-scale RCT with UC-Berkeley and Stanford showed that PHLs was cost-effective but lower than the bar Taimaka sets for its own work, Taimaka made the hard decision to transition away from the PHLs program in favor of another way we had begun to tackle food insecurity in the same communities – treating children with malnutrition.

Taimaka currently runs a treatment program that 1) delivers life-saving treatment to children in Nigeria and 2) serves as an incubator for cost-effective innovations that can either improve the quality, decrease the costs, or simplify the delivery of malnutrition treatment so that the 45.4 million children who need it can get it (only 20-30% currently get treatment). Because malnutrition is the leading cause of childhood deaths globally, and because millions are already spent on treatment every year, even marginal improvements can yield high impact. A reduction in the cost of treatment by just 1% would free up over $3.4 million currently spent globally on treatment to treat an additional 50,000 children.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

Post-Harvest Loans Pilot:

• Distributed PHLs to 1,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria

• Generated an additional $25,000 in post-harvest income for farmers

Malnutrition Scaling Goals:

• Test 3-4 candidate innovations in annual portfolios

• Push at least 1 innovation to scale to reach 20% of treated children by Year 5

• Reduce the cost-per-life saved of malnutrition treatment by 10% by Year 5

FOUNDING TEAM

Justin Graham - Co-founder

Abubakar Umar - Co-founder

Muhammad Uba - Co-founder

Parth Ahya - Co-founder

Justin Graham is Taimaka’s Executive Director and an Oxford graduate with a background in evidence-based development and quantitative economics. Abubakar Umar is Taimaka’s Medical Director and a former pediatrician with the Nigerian government. Muhammad Uba and Parth Ahya now serve on the board.

REFAN Multiple Concepts

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Imagine a world where light transforms lives. At REFAN Multiple concepts, Nigeria supported by D-Prize, we're making this vision a reality by distributing over 16,000 standalone solar lamps in the last 3 years to rural communities in Northeast Nigeria. Our mission is simple yet powerful: to illuminate the darkest corners and empower individuals, families, and entire communities. With each lamp, we're not just providing light, but opening doors to education, safety, and economic opportunity. Join us in brightening the future for over 60,000 indirect beneficiaries and counting.

REFAN’s model is based on distribution of solar lamps to households using a network of Microfinance Banks (MFBs), Microfinance Institutions (MFI) and Smallholder farmers’ cooperatives. To increase access, solar lanterns will be available on both a cash and credit basis.

REFAN was set up in August 2020 by Asongo Abraham, a Microfinance Expert, based in Yola, Nigeria. Fardeen Dodo of American University of Nigeria works with REFAN as Director of Strategy, Monitoring and Evaluation. Mrs. Grace Pius, a qualified Accountant, works with REFAN as Director of Finance.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Distribute 350 solar lamps reaching 1,050 beneficiaries during the pilot

• Reach 2,100 beneficiaries by the end of year 1

• Reach 3,000 beneficiaries by the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Asongo Abraham - Founder

Fardeen Dodo - Director of Strategy, Monitoring and Evaluation

Grace Pius - Director of Finance

Free2Plan

SAYANA PRESS CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sayana Press injectable contraceptive.  

Learn more about the Sayana®  Press Challenge and why training health providers to administer Sayana® Press can be particularly valuable for women who prefer injectable contraceptives but don’t have regular access.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Free2Plan is a feminist, youth-led nonprofit working to meet the unmet need for family planning by distributing Sayana Press, an injectable contraceptive.

Free2Plan will empower owner-operated drug retail outlets known as Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) to deliver Sayana Press to women and girls in hard to reach areas. They will train these PPMVs on communications to drive demand and create behavior change around self-injectable contraceptives.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Provide 1,000 women with access to Sayana Press during the pilot

• Train 100 PPMVs on Sayana Press communications and distribution during the pilot

• Reach 5,000 beneficiaries by the end of year 1

• Reach 12,000 beneficiaries by the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Offor Hope Jeremiah - Co-Founder

Melanie Tejiri Idehen - Co-Founder

Brenda Effiom - SBCC Specialist

Ibukun Babarinde - Supply Chain Manager

Nwabuma Omola Daniel - MEL Manager

CORD's Positive Escort Project

PMTCT CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Retention in care and adherence to anti-retroviral treatment for people living with HIV. 

Learn more about the PMTCT Challenge and how increasing completion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV can decrease HIV rates and improve lives.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

CORD’s Positive Escort Project aims to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV by training and engaging experienced women living with HIV to follow up and ensure 150 HIV+ pregnant women complete Antiretroviral Therapy (ART).

HIV+ positive women who have experienced PMTCT services and maintain close links with the community will be trained and engaged as Positive Escorts to facilitate community-facility continuum of care for PMTCT activities. They will provide pre-test group education sessions, one-on-one and couples counseling, individualized education, psychosocial support, appointment reminders and follow-up services to ensure women adhere to treatment. They will also be role models whose support and presence will reassure the newly diagnosed that HIV related challenges can be successfully overcome.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 150 expectant mothers during the pilot phase

• Train 50 HIV+ women to serve as Positive Escorts during the pilot phase

FOUNDING TEAM

Adebanjo Adetosoye Moses - Executive Director/Project Lead

Safe Passage Initiative

MATERNAL HEALTH CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Misoprostol tablets. 

Learn more about the Maternal Health Challenge and how the distribution of Misoprostol, a $3 drug that can prevent maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhage, could save thousands of lives.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The mission of Safe Passage is to improve the quality of life and the life expectancy of women of child bearing age and pregnant women in particular by significantly lowering the incidence of Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). The organization will work to curtail the rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria through the increased distribution of Misoprostol. 

The Safe Passage team will train 100 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in the initial pilot phase, on the practical use of Misoprostol during child delivery. The Pilot will run in 3 communities, one in each of the 3 geopolitical zones of Nigeria's Imo state: Umuguma, Orlu, and Okigwe. 

The model is unique as TBAs will be reaching and training other TBAs in the use of Misoprostol, encouraging acceptability, accessibility and increased impact. This strategy will have a multiplier effect as scaling progresses. The Safe Passage management team includes well respected and experienced TBAs which will improve their ability to train larger numbers and in turn, safe more lives. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Train 100 Traditional Birth Attendants during the pilot
• Distribute 600 Misoprostol tablets during the pilot 
• Train 2,500 Traditional Birth Attendants by the end of year 1 
• Distribute 7,500 Misoprostol tablets by the end of year 1

FOUNDING TEAM

Dr. Patrick Nwachi - Team Lead 

Dr Precious Eteike - Assistant Team Lead 

Maryann Anugwara - Head Traditional Birth Attendant

Power in Her Hand Initiative

SAYANA PRESS CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sayana Press injectable contraceptive. 

Learn more about the Sayana®  Press Challenge and why training health providers to administer Sayana® Press can be particularly valuable for women who prefer injectable contraceptives but don’t have regular access.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The proportion of women who die in pregnancy or during birth remains high in Nigeria. Some of the factors contributing to the problem and frequent births and limited access to desired methods of contraception, most notably in rural areas. Despite strong evidence that spacing births contributes to a reduction of maternal and child mortality, only 10% of the 40 million women of reproductive age are using modern contraceptive methods in Nigeria. The unmet need for family planning remains high. 

To change this narrative and increase women's access to contraceptive services in Nigeria, Power in Her Hand Initiative will pilot the training of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) to  introduce and distribute an innovative and easy-to-use injectable contraceptive, Sayana Press, in rural areas of Sokoto in Northern Nigeria. To reach even more girls and women in need of these services, Power in Her Hand Initiative will consider the training of community-based distributors in door-to-door distribution, proprietary and patent medical vendors, or clients themselves to achieve scale. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Distribute Sayana Press to 500 women during the pilot
• Train 100 community health workers during the pilot 
• Distribute Sayana Press to 25,000 women by the end of year 2
• Train 5,000 community health workers by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Mu'azu Muhammad - Team Leader

True Care Support Group

 PMTCT CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Peer support groups to increase the completion of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in pregnant women. 

Learn more about the PMTCT Challenge and how increasing completion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV can decrease HIV rates and improve lives.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The True Care Support Group will tackle the problem of non-completion of ART by providing a support network that offers peer counseling, training, encouragement, and emotional support to women living with HIV, with a focus on pregnant women living with HIV.

True Care Support Group will operate as both an online and offline network of women living with HIV. Counselors are women who have completed their ART regimen. Upon receiving referrals from hospitals,  counselors invite women to join their groups. Counselors receive incentives to help the women in their group, who are divided into pairs for extra support, complete their own ART regimens through in-person meetings, social media conversations, and SMS reminders. Graduates of the group will have the option to become counselors themselves. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Enroll 200 pregnant women living with HIV into support groups during the pilot
• Enroll 5,000 women living with HIV by the end of year 2

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Esther Bamidele - Co-Founder

Olugbenga Akinpeloye - Co-Founder

Strong Girl Network

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The Strong Girl Network is piloting a proven intervention to combat cross-generational
 sexual relationship in Nigeria with a goal to reach 57,600 girls in 3 months and 500,000 girls in two years. The team will deliver this evidence-based intervention by teaching anti sugar daddy awareness classes across schools providing young girls with critical information on the relative risk of sugar daddies. Strong Girl Network has successfully secured approval from the Oyo State Ministry of Education to introduce our Sugar Daddy classes in 285 state-controlled public schools.

Strong Girl Network will be testing the impact of teaching Sugar Daddy Awareness to 200 students in one hall, at one time. This approach presents its own risks but will be thoroughly monitored by the team to ensure its efficacy before it is scaled up. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 57,600 students during the pilot
• Reach 500,000 students by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Aderoju Okunsamni - Team Lead

Macduff Nnodim - Project Coordinator 

Bernard Magaji - Research and Data Analysis Lead 

Chisom Olukoya Olufemi - Project Coordinator

Adeoye Adejare - Curriculum Development and Training

Chubi Agro

QUALITY SEED CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Quality seeds. 

Learn more about the Quality Seed Challenge and why an evidence-based model that distributes high-quality seeds could reliably boost the standard of living for smallholder farmers.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

One proven strategy to combat low farm yields is through the use of improved seed varieties. These seeds which have higher yields and are locally adapted, have improved resistance to diseases and pests, mature earlier, and have a higher fertilizer response.

Chubi Agro will work on scaling up the distribution of high quality maize seeds by scaling up production of quality seeds in order to meet the anticipated growth in demand for improved seeds, increasing the number of distribution outlets by liaising with existing retail shops in rural communities to enhance the reach to smallholder farmers, continuing to expand an outgrower scheme in which quality seeds are distributed to farmers within the network as a loan to be repaid at the end of the harvest season, and conducting sensitization programs to increase awareness of the benefits of improved seeds as well as organize visits to demonstration farms. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Distribute 7,500kg of seeds during the pilot 
• Reach 200 farmers during the pilot
• Distribute 75,000kg of seeds at the end of year 2 
• Reach 3,000 farmers by the end of year 2
• Work with 100 distribution agents by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

James Ogwu - Managing Director 

Bemsibom Toh - Strategy Director

Adesola Ajayi - Business Development Director

Setieye Solar Services

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

 

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar Lamps. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Seteiye Solar Services is committed to replacing kerosene lamps with solar-powered LED lanterns. They will introduce an everyday consumer product, integrating this technology in the lives of with those who need it in 136 villages in the Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. 

Their model establishes Village Solar Groups (VSGs), village-run self-help micro-enterprises as the nucleus of the project. These will distribute solar-powered LED lanters at prices comparable to or less than the cost of powering a kerosene lamp in rural villages. 

Leveraging the vast network and influence of community based organizations as well as traditional and religious institutions, Seteiye Solar Services set up a multi-stakeholder approach to deliver solar products and education across various target groups and enlighten consumers on the key features of solar lighting products. The team will also engage in massive market activation through road shows and product presentations in churches and village hall meetings. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 34 villages during the pilot 

• Distribute 340 solar lanterns during the pilot 

• Reach 1360 beneficiaries during the pilot 

• Distribute 4,080 lamps at the end of year 1 

• Distribute 5,440 lamps by the end of year 2

• Reach 22,000 direct beneficiaries by the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Idopise Essien - Founder 

GasforAll Ventures

COOK STOVE CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

3kg LPG clean cook stoves. 

Learn more about the Cook Stove Challenge and how clean cook stoves reduce health and safety risks, lower fuel expenses, and help reduce poverty.  

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Gas4All's mission is to effectively distribute 3kg LPG clean cook stoves to urban slum households in the city of Kaduna, Nigeria in order to drastically reduce mortality from smoke inhalation, especially among women and children. 

Over 22 million households in Nigeria depend on solid fuel for cooking which leads to 80,000 deaths annually. Their intervention of focus is a 3kg LPG stove. However, LPG has significant barriers to adoption, including affordability and distance between homes and LPG refill plants. Gas4All's solution is to create a constant, easily accessible supply of LPG by hiring LPG vendors that will station themselves in communities, and distribute the LPG canisters to their sales agents with a van. The cook stoves will be made affordable through consumer financing, with customers paying in installments for four to six months. By opening up three offices (one in the main market and two around the pilot location of an urban slum), Gas4All will have ample space to use for conducing awareness raising activities and trainings, stock inventory for sales agents, receive installment payments, and conduct after sales services. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Provide 21,000 kg of LPG to communities by the end of year 1

• Distribute 10,200 cook stoves by the end of year 1

• Increase number of sales agents by 8 by the end of year 1

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Emeka Umechukwu - Founder

Chidi Umeh - Co-Founder and Sales Director

Farm on Wheels

IMPROVED FARM PRACTICES CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

 PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Quality seeds and fertilizer as well as transportation of farm produce to market. 

Learn more about the Improved Farm Practices Challenge and why increasing the effective use of fertilizer has the potential to unlock significant crop yield for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.  

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Major distribution problems for smallholder farmers in Nigeria include: the high cost of transportation due to bad roads, limited farm resources, low yield even with increased fertilizer application and quality seeds due to improper application, low profit margin due to increased fertilizer use which discourages farmers from investing. 

Farm on Wheels is a direct distribution line that will bring quality seeds and fertilizers to farmers, then transport farm produce to urban areas via large trucks at harvest time. Short seminars will be facilitated with small holder farmers on utilizing quality seeds, microdosing technique, and how to purchase these quality inputs on credit with Farm on Wheels. To do this, Farm on Wheels will partner with small holder rural farmers cooperatives. Farm produce will be transported to urban areas and sold to Farm on Wheels partners. Farmers can use produce to cover costs of quality inputs taken on credit. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Teach microdosing technique with 5 farmer cooperatives during the pilot 

• Increase the effective use of fertilizer and scale up distribution of quality seeds with 75 small holder farmers during the pilot 

• Teach microdosing technique with 20 farmer cooperatives by the end of year 1 

• Increase the effective use of fertilizer and scale up distribution of quality seeds with 300 smallholder farmers by the end of year 1

FOUNDING TEAM

Jocelyne Agbo - Founder and Chief Executive Officer 

Stanley Arinze - Finance and Distribution Lead

Community Based Participatory Immunization (CBPI)

CUSTOM CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

The distribution of vaccine reminder bracelets and awareness creation on the importance of childhood immunization in Nigeria. 

Learn more about the Custom Challenge and why we only fund ideas that focus on distributing proven poverty interventions.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

CBPI will pilot their initiative in Abuja and Niger state of Nigeria. From an initial needs assessment, the team found that health facilities in both locations lacked the means to remind mothers of their child's vaccination appointments aside from child health cards issued to mothers. 

The CBPI model has two components: vaccination bracelets (clean plastic bracelet put on the baby's wrist for nine months with holes punched in the plastic for each vaccination a child receives to enable health workers to monitor mothers' compliance with immunization schedule) and CareAlert (a bulk SMS reminder service to remind caregivers of vaccination appointments). 

The team will raise awareness of vaccinations and the importance of the bracelets via antenatal and postnatal sessions at healthcare facilities with 10,000 mothers in one year.  

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 30 healthcare service providers reached with awareness raising during the pilot 
• 1,500 bracelets distributed during the pilot phase 
• 3,000 SMS messages sent during the pilot 
• 14,400 mothers reached with awareness raising at the end of 1 year 
• 240 healthcare providers reached by the end of year 2 
• 36,000 vaccination bracelets distributed by the end of year 2 

FOUNDING TEAM

Dr. Emmanuel Egbroko - Co-Founder

Paul Ogboji - Co-Founder 

Chika Ozoemena - Co-Founder and Consultant 

Ikechukwu Oguomah - Co-Founder 

Farmwise

CUSTOM AGRICULTURE CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

An asset-based loan that includes seeds and fertilizer, financing for farm inputs, training on agricultural techniques, and market facilitation to maximize profits. 

Learn more about the Custom Agriculture Challenge and why distributing proven agricultural interventions can greatly improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.  

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Farmwise will assist smallholder farmers by providing the resources they need to succeed. They will provide farmers with farm in put on credit, deliver products to their door, train farmers, and help them sell the harvest. These services must be provided together because without credit, farm inputs are not affordable, without training, farmers do not maximize resources, without delivery, services are not accessible. By delivering all of these services together, Farmwise will enable farmers to significantly increase their farm income and build a path out of poverty.  Farmwise's vision is to reach 1 million farm families by 2020 (which is less than 2% of registered smallholder farmers in Nigeria), while expanding the Farmwise model quickly and sustainably. 

Farmwise loan packages range in value from $62.5 to $100 and includes crop insurance to mitigate the risks of drought and disease for new farmers. Packages valued at $200 will be available for returning farmers in the second year. Farmers may enroll as little as a quarter of an acre of land or a full acre of farmland. Farmwise will provide a maximum of one loan package per household. To quality for the Farmewise program, farmers are required to form local groups, attend agricultural training, and pay a materials and training fee. Farmwise will accommodate clients with a flexible repayment system in which they may repay their loans in any amount and at any time as long s they complete repayment by July of the same year. To receive the loan and training, farmers must join a village group that is supported by a local Farmwise field officer. The field officers will meet regularly with the farmer groups to coordinate delivery of farm inputs, administer training, and collect repayments. During the pilot, Farmwise plans for one acre per farmer and each farmer is expected to achieve $900 in their first year and $1,600 in their second year. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Serve 680 farm families during the pilot phase
• Hire 180 staff members during the pilot phase
• Serve 80,000 farm families at the end of year 1
• Grow the staff to include 1,070 employees by the end of year 1 
• Reach 319 communities by the end of year 2 
• Serve 486,000 farm families by the end of year 2 

FOUNDING TEAM

Ugwunwa Nkasiobi Nwamara - Co-Founder

Iheanyi Esse - Co-Founder 

Chidochiri Ononuju - Co-Founder 

Qantab Light Cube

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar units and grid systems.

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Qantab Light Cube is a renewable energy company based in Nigeria with focus on the deployment of stand–alone portable and rooftop solar units to rural and urban homes, and solar PV micro grids systems to rural communities. The company’s primary objective is to join a growing ensemble of solution providers who proactively engage vision, expertise and action in becoming an indispensable energy provider. The team will also provide before and after sales service to customers as well information regarding their electricity consumption.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 600 solar lamps distributed during the pilot phase

• 2 states in Northern Nigeria reached during the pilot

FOUNDING TEAM

Samuel Olufemi Sofela - Founder

Trinity Health

MATERNAL HEALTH CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Misoprostol tablets.

Learn more about the Maternal Health Challenge and how the distribution of Misoprostol, a $3 drug that can prevent maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhage, could save thousands of lives.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Trinity Health is a non-profit organization that aims to reduce maternal mortality in Nigeria by training traditional birth attendants on how to adequately respond to postpartum hemorrhage through the use of simulation-based medical education.

Once trained, field officers link traditional birth attendants to needed supplies such as Misoprostol and Birth Delivery Kits to ensure safe and sterile deliveries. The team’s distribution strategy centers around a system involving local drivers plying rural routes. The community-based distribution model is aimed at ensuring safe deliveries for every mother and child.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 100 Traditional Birth Attendants trained during the pilot phase

• 3,000 Misoprostol tablets distributed during the pilot phase

FOUNDING TEAM

Priscilla Colon - Founder

Joel Akachukwu Igu - Founder

Obieze Nwunna-Nzwenna - Founder

Imole Energy Solutions

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps.

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Imole Energy Solutions was founded by to create energy access for the under-served in Nigeria. The venture will create energy access at Makoko Waterfront Communities, an urban slum in Lagos, Nigeria by distributing thousands of solar lamps.

The organization will create jobs for 200 women as clean energy entrepreneurs and train 40 youths as solar technicians in one year thereby increasing sources of income for community members. With a projected energy access created for 5,000 women in one year, this will help eliminate the burning of 1.33 million liters of kerosene in the lifetime of the products (estimated at 5 years) thereby reducing about 3.07 million kg of carbon emission (at a rate or 2.3 kg of CO2 per liter of kerosene). They ultimately plan to scale the venture to achieve the goal of reaching 1 million beneficiaries by 2030 to support Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 5,000 solar lamps distributed by year 1

FOUNDING TEAM

Segun Adaju - Founder

Safe Love International

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness class.

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Safe Love International is a young and dynamic non-governmental foundation committed to providing informed education and scaling proven poverty interventions to address society's most pressing social and economic problems in Africa. In its D-Prize pilot, Safe Love International scaled Sugar Daddy Awareness to over 21,000 students in Nigeria to tackle the high rates of HIV infections and unwanted pregnancies among teenagers.

The Sugar Daddy Awareness class has been proven in a randomized controlled trial to reduce unplanned teenage pregnancy and HIV infection rates by 28%.

 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 15,000 students with Sugar Daddy Awareness Class

• Recruit and train 100+ teacher to lead Sugar Daddy Awareness Class

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Sandra Omo Idugboe - Founder

Phoenix Solar

SOLAR LAMP; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps with built-in phone charging capabilities. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Phoenix Solar will distribute affordable solar lamps that provide lighting and mobile phone charging to rural households in five off-grid villages outside of Ibadan South Weest Nigeria. The organization will work closely with women's savings and loans groups and youth corps members who conduct their mandatory national youth service program in remote off-grid communities. 

Youth corps members participating in the National Youth Service Program will be recruited for this last mile distribution strategy to identify women's savings collectives popularly called Esusu. In Nigeria, college graduates are expected to work for one year in various parts of the country to help bridge the skills gap particularly in remote locations that have lost manpower due to rural urban migration. They will be trained on the distribution model, marketing to undeserved communities, and communicating behavioral change to potential customers.

Orders will be communicated via text messages or phone calls to Phoenix Solar's operational center in Ibadan. Orders received will be dispatched via buses that ply the routes leading to the pilot villages bi-weekly. Phoenix Solar will form an arrangement with the local bus union to negotiate standard charges for delivering the solar lamps at different locations. Solar lamps will be sold in bulk to the Esusu groups with an option for a bulk discount. They will also be sold directly to group members with an installment payment option with payments guaranteed by the group. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Sell 500 solar lamps in 6 months
• Distribute lamps in 5 locations in 6 months 
• Reach 1,500 individuals during the pilot phase 

FOUNDING TEAM

Adedotun Eyinade - Director

Sola Fagorusi - Strategy Officer

Mother's Delivery Kit

MATERNAL HEALTH CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

The drug Misoprostol which will be distributed through trained Traditional Birth Attendants in rural communities. 

Learn more about the Maternal Health Challenge and how the distribution of Misoprostol, a $3 drug that can prevent maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhage, could save thousands of lives.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Mother's Delivery Kit will provide a value added kit containing essential sterile supplies a woman and her birth attendant need to make childbirth safer and keep more women alive. The kit will include Misoprostol. Usual kits are only prepared to mitigate infection, not postpartum hemorrhage, and include a bundle of cotton wool, one antiseptic soap bar, delivery mat, methylated spirit, two pairs of sterile gloves, two cord clamps, mucus extractor, gauze, scalpel blades, disinfectant, maternity pads, infant receiver, and olive oil. Including Misoprostol will be cost effective because the team has connected directly with manufacturers who supply the drug at a discounted rate. 

Production and packaging of the kits with Misoprostol will take place at their production factory in Lagos, Nigeria. A medical team with considerable experience will train Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) on clean, safe, and hygienic deliveries as well as oh how to administer Misoprostol. Mother's Delivery Kit has already built a network of TBAs and will reach end users through this network. 

 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Distribute 1,000 units of Misoprostol during the pilot 
• Reach 1,000 women during the pilot 
• Reach 3,000 women by the end of 6 months 
• Reach 6,000 women by year 1 
•  In the future, expand to neighboring states in Nigeria 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Adepeju Jaiyeoba - Founder