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The 
#HackTheGerms Innovation Competition is over and we’ve selected 3 finalists. Read on to learn about them.
We received LOTS of great submissions for the #HackTheGerms Innovation Competition!
Not just from Nigeria but people submitted ideas from Pakistan, South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, and Tanzania. Some people submitted alone and others submitted as a team. We were highly impressed with the quality of the designs for community hand sanitizer dispensers. They included extremely innovative, interesting ways to solve the problem of infection control and hygiene in communities.
So how did we select the finalists?
- First, we went through all the submissions and eliminated any that did not fit within the competition criteria.
- Then we went through the remaining ideas and ranked them based on how well the proposed design addressed the challenge, complied with the design criteria of the competition, etc.
- Once we had our top 10, we deliberated with our #HackTheGerms partners (ADCEM Pharmaceuticals, the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University, eLab, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Nigeria) and together we selected 5 semi-finalists.
- The 5 semi-finalists then went through an additional screening process which included pitching live at the Global Entrepreneurship Week Social Sector Dialogue Event.
During that event, our judges ranked them based on various criteria including functionality and design, market potential, ease of use, scalability, and passion. Our judges were:
- Ms. Mambidzeni Madzivire, Founder and MD, Haralago Ltd; Expert in human centered design and product design for low-resource settings
- Mr. Tunde Lawuyi, Head of Product Development & Channel Innovation at Cornerstone Insurance Plc; Expert in product development and distribution
- Dr. Bukayo Hanidu, Consultant, Anadach Group LLC; Global health strategy and innovation consultant
- Dr. Kunbi Wuraola – CEO of Discover Your Potential Ltd; Entrepreneurship and development consultant
Needless to say, it was very hard to make a decision, but our judges have chosen the following 3 teams as #HackTheGerms finalists!
Finalist 1: Nupe Project
Funfere Koroye, Dammy Onanuga, and Michael Omotosho are Nigerian industrial designers whose goal is to change lives through good design.
Finalist 2: Charles Eke
Charles is a 15 year old student at Raberto Schools in Abuja who is passionate about preventing diseases. He was the youngest participant in the #HackTheGerms competition.
Finalist 3: Covenant University
Osamuyi Adonri, Akinlesi Love, Usua Idorenyin, Soetan Samuel, and Iyanuoluwa Aladegbeye are mechanical engineering students at Covenant University. They are driven by their passion to use scientific and engineering principles to create solutions to existing problems.
The winner will be announced at the closing ceremony for Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) which takes place on December 8th. So stay tuned!