NYFA- Alain Nteff wins Young African Enterprise prize

At 23 years, the Cameroonian Alain Nteff has helped combat infant mortality in his country through "Gifted Mom", a hotline whose objective is to enable women living in rural areas benefit from pre-and post-natal care by SMS.

Four prizes of the young African business were awarded in Libreville, Gabon, at the New York Forum Africa from August 28 to 30. France 24 and "The Africa Point" participated in the jury and chose the winner among 170 applications.

Alain Nteff, founder of Gifted Mom won the first prize (50,000 euros). This 23-year-old engineer created a mobile phone application that prompts prenatal visit dates for pregnant women and mothers for the next date of vaccination of babies with the goal to reduce child mortality.

Other prize winners:

• Evans Wadongo, Kenyan, co-founder of GreenWise Energy, won the 2nd Prize (€30,000). It offers solar lamps and services in renewable energy. He wishes to give Africans access to green electricity.

• Betty Ikalany, founder of Appropriate Energy Saving technologies, was awarded the "coup de coeur" Prize (10,000 euros). It transforms the skins of groundnuts into briquette, a less polluting than coal fuel.

• 4th Prize (10,000 euros): Abdou Maman, Niger. He started Tech-Innov, a TV irrigation system.