The Earthshot Prize is a global initiative dedicated to discovering and accelerating groundbreaking solutions for repairing the planet. The Earthshot Prize engages a worldwide network of 430 nominating individuals and organisations from 139 countries.
Launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in 2020, The Earthshot Prize is the world’s most prestigious environmental award, celebrating and scaling solutions to the planet’s greatest challenges.
As a member of this Earthshot Prize Global Alliance, MultiChoice collaborates with The Earthshot Prize to support environmental sustainability in Africa. The Earthshot Prize annually awards five winners with R20m grants to scale their projects, which address urgent environmental challenges. Through the Global Alliance, winners and finalists gain access to diverse resources across various sectors, including manufacturing, retail, legal expertise, digital technology and government relations. This platform showcases the ingenuity and ambition of African innovators, activists and scientists on the global stage, driving meaningful change for our planet’s future.
As an official broadcast partner for The Earthshot Prize in Africa, we leverage our extensive platforms to amplify its messages throughout the continent. We foster engagement, encourage innovators to showcase their solutions, back local finalists and mobilise communities to tackle sustainability challenges head-on.
Since its inception, The Earthshot Prize has recognised three African winners: Mukuru Clean Stoves from Kenya, Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO) from Ghana and Keep IT Cool from Kenya. There have also been seven finalists – Reeddi Capsules from Nigeria, Pole PoleFoundation from the Democratic Republic of Congo, ABALOBI from South Africa, Freetown Treetown from Sierra Leone, d.light, Roam and Sanergy from Kenya.
Nominations for the 2024 Earthshot Prize opened in September 2023, extending through December of the same year. Individuals and organisations were encouraged to enter into the five categories of The Earthshot Prize: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean our Air, Revive our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix our Climate.
A record-breaking 400 entries were submitted from across the continent for The Earthshot Prize 2024.
In 2024, for the first time ever, The Earthshot Prize came to Africa!
Taking place across five days of landmark events, Earthshot Week 2024 spotlighted groundbreaking environmental solutions. It brought together world-leading innovators, investors and philanthropists to drive forward the restoration and protection of our planet.
Earthshot Week centred around The Earthshot Prize Awards in Cape Town on 6 November where we celebrated the work of this year’s fifteen extraordinary finalists and unveiled the Winners of The Earthshot Prize 2024, which included GAYO from Ghana and Keep IT Cool from Kenya.
Hosted by Billy Porter and Bonang Matheba, and featuring incredible performances from Lebo M, the Ndolvu Choir, and more, the fourth annual awards show spotlighted climate innovators working on game-changing solutions across Africa. Their stories were made heard by millions across the planet.
About GAYO
GAYO drives behavioural change to help communities clean up waste, create jobs and build infrastructure to support circular waste management across Africa.
Many communities lack sustainable waste services and awareness of proper waste disposal, leading to excessive landfill use, open burning, and harmful pollution. Poor waste management not only contaminates air, water, and soil but also threatens public health and environmental stability. A functioning waste system is essential for economic, social, and environmental well-being, reducing pollution and promoting a circular economy. The Zero Waste Model, led by Desmond Alugnoa, creates jobs and infrastructure to support circular waste management across Africa. GAYO trains and employs waste collectors, women, and young people, helping them generate income through composting and charcoal briquette production. Since 2019, the initiative has created 70 green jobs, benefiting over 5,000 people and diverting 170 tonnes of waste from landfills in 2023 alone. Recognised as a key partner by government ministries, GAYO continues to drive sustainable waste solutions that support both the environment and local economies.
About Keep IT Cool
Keep IT Cool (KIC) provides sustainable refrigeration and smart distribution solutions for small farmers and fishers. It helps extend the shelf life of their produce, reduces spoilage, and creates more stable incomes. By improving profits and cutting down on food waste, KIC is helping build a more sustainable future for these communities.
Food loss from farm to fork is a major challenge in Africa, particularly due to inadequate cold storage and transport systems. On Kenya’s Lake Victoria, fisherfolk lose up to 50% of their daily catch because of these limitations. Without centralized energy grids or on-demand refrigeration, keeping produce fresh from port to market is a struggle, leading to significant food spoilage and economic losses. Keep IT Cool (KIC) tackles this issue by providing solar-powered cold storage at fish landing sites and managing transport to markets, reducing spoilage and increasing income security for farmers and fishers. By brokering deals with 1,600 retailers, KIC ensures timely purchases at fair prices, cutting out middlemen and price fluctuations. Currently working with 4,500 fisherfolk, KIC has saved 25% of previously wasted fish, increased incomes for 3,600 people, and achieved a 98% reduction in post-harvest losses for 1.5 million kg of food. Their impact extends to 2,000 small businesses and 40 supermarkets, with demand rapidly growing.
At the Earthshot+ event in Cape Town, The Earthshot Prize has announced that support galvanised for its alumni had reached £86M in value, highlighting the Prize’s impact and ability to accelerate game-changing environmental solutions to scale.
A series of milestone partnerships and initiatives aimed at furthering The Earthshot Prize’s impact in Africa were also announced, ensuring that environmental innovation and climate creativity across the continent continues to flourish.
Africa-based solutions from within the Earthshot’s pool of nominees – those identified by the The Earthshot Prize’s global search and select process to shortlist finalists – will now have access to a range of new initiatives to speed them on their journey to scale.
The three new partnerships are:
Africa Innovation Partnership:
To drive long-term impact across Africa, the Motsepe Foundation has donated £3M to the Africa Innovation Partnership to support Africa-based Earthshot nominees and to significantly expand and support African-based solutions for climate change, biodiversity loss and nature conservation in collaboration with Conservation South Africa.
Beginning January 2025, for an initial period of three years, the Motsepe Foundation will collaborate with Conservation South Africa and the Earthshot Prize, to select and award the top 10 African nominees each year with grants. Nominees will also gain access to content and curriculum from the Global Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme, and connect solutions to philanthropists, impact investors, corporations and venture capitals.
Ninety One Accelerator:
Ninety One, South Africa’s largest asset manager, has partnered with The Earthshot Prize to launch the Ninety One Accelerator, committing grants and support worth £2M to innovative and early-stage African companies from within the Prize’s pool of nominees that are working on environmental solutions to become investment-ready and scale their businesses. The Accelerator will leverage the reach and expertise of The Earthshot Prize along with Ninety One’s skills and networks to provide customised support, including funding, technical assistance, and strategic guidance, equipping companies driving innovative solutions to take the next step in their journey.
Candidates will be screened and selected annually from The Earthshot Prize nominations, and the Accelerator will work alongside partners to deliver a comprehensive nine-month programme to support as many as 30 innovators between 2025 and 2030, with an estimated total support value £2M.
2023 Earthshot Prize Finalist ABALOBI has been named as one of the inaugural cohort of the Ninety One Accelerator.
Sustainable Entrepreneurship Fellowship at GIBS:
The new Sustainable Entrepreneurship Fellowship for African innovators, launched by The Earthshot Prize, Gordon Institute of Business Science School (GIBS) and the Donald Gordon Foundation, includes a commitment of up to £1M to support a cohort of the most outstanding African entrepreneurs who, despite not winning The Earthshot Prize, demonstrate exceptional potential. Over the course of a year-long programme, each cohort will acquire knowledge, receive mentorship, strategic guidance, and resources focused on sustainability, strategy, and digital innovation, helping to empower them to scale their businesses and drive transformative change in their communities and across the continent of Africa. At the end of the programme they may also get access to possible funding and partnership opportunities.
