Young winners who participated in the COVID-19 challenge competition attended the prize-giving ceremony that was supported by UNDP and UNICEF at the Centre for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (CLE) last Thursday.

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, the Resident Representative of UNDP in Djibouti, Fatima Elsheikh, the Representative of UNICEF in Djibouti, Melva Johson, the Director of CLE, Oubah Malow, and the Deputy Representative of UNDP, Gaël Olivier, attended the ceremony.

The Minister for the Economy said that "The government has been working over the last few years to change the mindset of young people by encouraging them to become independent, and to develop and take charge of themselves through innovative projects.”

The young winners of the competition, who have developed solutions to the pandemic in Djibouti, were awarded prizes ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 to help them implementing their projects. Their projects focused on manufacturing masks, hydro-alcoholic gels, creating hand washing stations, and setting up an online purchasing platform, the Djiboutian genius has revealed itself in all its splendour. 

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading all over the world, facing this unprecedented public health crisis. It is a time of global mobilization around the world. The coronavirus, which appeared in China last November, has spread like wildfire. At present there is no effective treatment or preventive vaccine. Each country is trying to fight this epidemic with its own resources, relying on prevention and raising public awareness of the dangers of this virus. Everywhere in the world, we are redoubling our ingenuity to provide national solutions to this crisis by mobilizing our resources and technical expertise.

With this objective in mind, the CLE, in collaboration with UNDP and UNICEF, launched a call for innovative solutions to fight the pandemic on 7 April that aims to highlight the contribution of project leaders to the development of solutions with an immediate technological or social impact to help health systems and populations cope with the challenges caused by COVID-19.

Many young people participated in this competition to find innovative solutions to this pandemic.

Fatima Elsheikh welcomed this partnership between the three institutions that have done a remarkable job, while saluting the determination of young people to contribute to the fight against the pandemic.  

UNDP and UNICEF will support the innovative projects that youth have to implement them .

The first prize in this competition was won by the company Ilyco, which specializes in the manufacture of shoes, with the production of masks made in Djibouti that meet international standards. These masks comply with the specifications of the AFNOR SPEC S76-001:2020 standard of the French Agency for Standardization, and are approved by the national scientific committee set up in the context of the health crisis. These masks are intended for the general population and the personnel and security forces. Ilyas Dougsieh Boulaleh, CEO of this company, is delighted: "We are happy to receive this first prize because our company has made a lot of effort to implement these masks which are certified by the national scientific committee. This encourages us to move forward and to explore other avenues in the future to provide national solutions to this pandemic".

The second prize went to Green tech, a company specialising in renewable energy that employs ten people. This company has set up automatic hand washing stations, which works with solar energy. The manager of this company is Abdirazak Ali Waberi, a young engineer from Djibouti's Faculty of Engineering, said that they were the first company that has manufactured solar bags in Djibouti. Abdirazak with his team have participated in the 2019 Entrepreneurship World Cup in Qatar. The main customers of his product are UNICEF and IOM.

The third prize winner is Aya Tech solutions who created Marso hand gel. This product made in Djibouti complies with the standards for manufacturing hydroalcoholic gels of the WHO guide and is approved by LAANA.

The prize in the association category went to the young Green Generation who received a cheque for 5000 dollars. It will donate the masks and hydroalcoholic gels it produces to the vulnerable people with whom it is involved. Moreover, the Minister of Economy and Finance added a personal donation of $1,000 to this prize to encourage these young people.

Finally, the prize in the women's category was won by Fathya Hassan Mohamed, who created an online shopping platform, My Buzzy Market.

This competition has allowed many talents to emerge and participate in the fight against the pandemic of this century where Djibouti is coping relatively well.