Google Announces First African Impact Challenge

By Lily Dada On May 23, 2018

Google announces first African Impact Challenge

Issues call to African non-profits to participate

Google today announced the launch of the Google Impact Challenge | Nigeria 2018. Google is committing $2m worth of grant funding to nonprofits in Nigeria through the challenge, which will see funding awarded to non-profits which are innovating using technology to reach their goals.

Google is issuing an open call for non-profits in Nigeria to apply to receive their share of $2m in funding. Four non-profits in Nigeria stand to win $250 000 each while 8 runners up will each get $125 000.

Applications are open for the next six months, and nonprofits can apply online here at www.https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/nigeria2018 or g.co/nigeriachallenge.

Winners will be decided by a panel of local judges and a public vote. The public vote provides a chance for the people to decide which organisation gets an extra portion of funding to help them impact their community. The winning non-profits will get cash as well as access to guidance, technical assistance and mentorship from Google, which they are free to take up should they so choose.

The Nigerian judging panel includes chairman CEO Channels media group John Momoh, chairman CEO, Zinox Technologies Leo Stan Ekeh, chief executive officer Parminder Vir, Rapper and CEO of Chocolate City Music Group MI Abaga, Philanthropist and Executive Director of Nigeria Network of NGOs Oluseyi Oyebisi, Philanthropist and Media enterpreneur Mo Abudu, Ex-footballer and founder of the Kanu Heart Foundation Kanu Nwankwo, Managing General Partner, EchoVC Partners Eghosa Omoigui and Google Country Director Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor.

The Google Impact Challenge Nigeria launches today and will close on the 4th of July. The final awards ceremony will be held during the week of 26 November.

At Google for Nigeria in July last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Google’s commitment to providing $20m funding to African non-profits over five years. This is the first initiative aimed at realising that commitment.

Speaking on the announcement, Google Country Marketing Manager Affiong Osuchukwu said, “This is the first time we are running a Google Impact Challenge in Africa. Many African nonprofits are doing great work with real impact and we’re keen to shine a light on them, and give a financial boost to innovative projects and ideas. We believe technology can help local and national organisations to better reach their goals and solve some of the continent’s most pressing challenges, and we are eager to back people who are using technology in new ways to make a positive difference in their communities.

“We also want to highlight the healthy state of social enterprise in Nigeria today, and encourage non-profits to consider how technology can help them reach their goals,” Osuchukwu says.

Other Google Impact Challenges around the world have supported ideas ranging from smart cameras for wildlife conservation to solar lights for off-grid communities to a mobile application that helps to protect women from domestic violence.

Overview

On Wednesday 23 May, Google will be launching the 2018 Africa Global Impact Challenge, an Africa-wide competition to find the most innovative not-for-profit African organisations using technology to solve societal problems in Africa.

At Google for Nigeria, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai announced a $20M commitment from Google.org over the next 5 years to support nonprofits who are working to improve lives across the African continent. As part of this commitment, Google.org will invest $6M to run three Google Impact Challenges in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, as an open call for nonprofits and social enterprises. Together with the grants to be awarded, awardees will also be getting training and mentorship to help them push their ideas to the conclusion.

In each country, there will be 4 winners receiving a $250k grant each: 3 of these winners will be selected by a judge panel made up of high level policy targets and KOF’s in each market, one winner will be selected through a public vote. Additionally, 8 runners-up will receive a $125k grant each. The final winner selection / award ceremonies will be held during the week of November 26th inLagos, Johannesburg and Nairobi.

Why this matters to Google?

Many African innovators are doing great work with real impact and Google is keen to shine a light on their work, and also give a financial boost to their projects and ideas. We believe technology can help local and national organisations to better reach their goals and solve some of the continent’s most pressing challenges, and Google is eager to provide support to individuals and organizations using technology in new ways to make a positive difference.

Timelines and dates

May 23 – Applications open
July 4 – Applications close
July 5 – Application review starts
Oct 15 – Finalists selected and notified
Nov 5 – Public voting opens
Nov 25 – Public voting closes
Week of Nov 26 – Final event & judge winners selected

How to apply:

Application sites available from May 23rd can be found as follows. After the twelve finalists are selected, the site will feature them and encourage the public to vote for their favorite.

Judges

Eghosa Omoigui- Managing General Partner, EchoVC Partners

John Momoh- Chairman and CEO of Channels Media Group
Juliet Ehimuan- Country Director, Google Nigeria
Kanu Nwankwo OON- Ex Footballer and Founder of Kanu Heart Foundation
Leo Stan Ekeh- Chairman and CEO of Zinox Technologies
MI Abaga – Rapper and CEO of Chocolate City Music Group
Mo Abudu- Chairman and CEO of EbonyLife TV
Oluseyi Oyebisi- Philanthropist and Executive Director of Nigeria Network of NGOs
Parminder Vir OBE – Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation

Criteria for Assessment:

Community Impact: Does the proposed project create economic opportunity in Nigeria? Does it improve the lives of people in our country?
Innovation: Does the project present unexpected solutions to unmet needs?
Reach: Does it have the potential to scale directly or to serve as a model for other communities? Will its scope grow over time?
Feasibility: Is the project plan (or business plan) well thought-out, and the team well-equipped to execute on it?

About Google.org

What is Google.org?

Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, supports charitable organizations that apply scalable, data-driven approaches to solving the world’s biggest challenges. Through the efforts of the Google.org team, Google helps nonprofits accelerate their progress by providing funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers with a focus on education, economic opportunity, inclusion and crisis response.

Google.org seeks out and supports nonprofits who are innovating and using technology to combat the world’s biggest challenges

Google.org’s focuses on Education, Economic Opportunity, and Inclusion as pillars of its corporate giving, and responds in real time to global crises and natural disasters.
Through Google.org-led initiatives, Google helps to accelerate the progress of innovative nonprofits by connecting them to the best of Google and help them scale by investing in their vision.
In addition to grants, Google employees also contribute their skills to help our grantees realize their projects.

The Google.org offering provides the best of Google to grantees. This includes both financial resources + Google resources (Cash + Google).

Each year:

Funding: Over $100 million in grants to support breakthrough innovation and technology with the potential to scale.

Expertise: Googler volunteers spend 250,000+ hours with nonprofits––bringing their passion and engineering expertise to accelerate progress.

Technology : A range of free products and services are designed to serve the unique needs of nonprofits, and amplify their impact.

Supporting innovative nonprofits

We identify nonprofits using technology and innovation to tackle complex global challenges. While every project is different, these organizations tend to have a few things in common.

Address inequities – We look for nonprofit innovators who understand the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations in their own communities– and around the world. These innovators create new and unexpected solutions to address inequities.
Solve like engineers – When ideas aren’t backed by data and research, impact is harder to achieve and measure. We look for teams that break down large problems into small ones, and then test and iterate solutions. They share our belief that technology and innovation can accelerate change across the nonprofit sector.
Bring change to everyone – The best ideas positively impact as many people as possible. We look for leaders who have bold, ambitious ideas. They open source their technology. They build models with the potential to scale. They speak publicly about their successes and failures so that others can learn and benefit.

And then we build the right toolkit

We help grantees scope projects to ensure they have the resources to sustain and scale. In addition to funding, we connect our grantees to tools, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers that accelerate their progress.

GOOGLE AFRICAN IMPACT CHALLENGE