22-year-old student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, Mathias Charles Yabe has named among top 50 shortlisted for the 2022 Chegg.org Global Student Prize.
Mr Yabe, based in Accra was selected from almost 7,000 nominations and applications from 150 countries.
The award is conferred on one exceptional student who made real impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on society beyond.
Mathias’s innovation, AkoFresh, an AgriTech start-up offers smallholder farmers sustainable crop preservation services.
It is a mobile solar powered cold storage preservation technology that extends the shelf life of perishable crops from five days to 21 days, helping farmers store perishable crops over five times longer than their shelf life in ambient temperatures and therefore reduce postharvest losses by 50%.
The solution is fully powered by solar energy which makes the solution affordable, accessible to rural areas and has a reduced environmental footprint.
During the pandemic, Mathias also pioneered the development of a disability friendly virtual learning platform for hearing impaired students to study during school closures, directly impacting the lives of 250 deaf high school students.
Top 10 finalists of the Global Student Prize are expected to be announced in August this year out of which the overall winner will emerge.
The Varkey Foundation partnered with Chegg.org to launch the annual Global Student Prize last year, a sister award to its $1 million Global Teacher Prize. It was established to create a powerful new platform that shines a light on the efforts of extraordinary students everywhere who, together, are reshaping our world for the better.
The prize is open to all students who are at least 16 years old and enrolled in an academic institution or training and skills program.
Part-time students as well as students enrolled in online courses are also eligible for the prize.
Last year’s winner was Jeremiah Thoronka, a 21-year-old student from Sierra Leone, who launched a start-up called Optim Energy that transforms vibrations from vehicles and pedestrian footfall on roads into an electric current.
With just two devices, the start-up provided free electricity to 150 households comprising around 1,500 citizens, 15 schools with about 9,000 students.
Since its launch last year, the Global Student Prize has challenged students globally to share their stories, connect influencers in education and beyond.
