Three young Zambian innovators, Prince Likonge, Purity Kampamba and Emmanuel Njovu, are demonstrating how locally rooted ideas can develop into solutions with wider potential through the timbuktoo Africa Mukuba UniPod RootLab Ignite programme. Each innovator entered the programme with a different problem shaped by personal experience, community needs or challenges observed in everyday life. Emmanuel is developing technology to tackle digital fraud, Purity is working on smarter water management while Prince is building a platform designed to improve education administration and assessment. Although their innovations address different sectors, their journeys share an important starting point: identifying problems close to home and finding the support needed to turn early ideas into practical products. Their experiences also highlight the role that structured innovation programmes can play in helping young Zambians move from having an idea to understanding how that idea can become a viable and scalable solution.
At just 20 years old, Emmanuel Njovu is focused on the growing problem of digital fraud as mobile money and digital transactions become increasingly important across Africa. Mobile money has changed how individuals and businesses transfer funds, making it easier for traders, farmers, entrepreneurs and communities to participate in economic activity. However, the increased use of digital financial services has also created opportunities for cybercriminals to target users through scams and other forms of digital fraud. Emmanuel began hearing stories about people losing their money to digital scams while he was still at school, prompting him to think about whether technology could help detect threats before they cause harm. His interest eventually developed into ZED Shield, an AI-powered security system intended to detect digital threats and strengthen cybersecurity infrastructure.
Emmanuel’s experience at the Mukuba University Innovation Pod, UniPod, helped him rethink the potential of his idea. He applied from Lusaka Province to participate in the RootLab Ignite programme and travelled to the Copperbelt for the week-long bootcamp focused on developing early-stage ideas into scalable products. The experience exposed him to a structured innovation environment where he could examine his concept from both technical and practical perspectives. Rather than viewing ZED Shield simply as a small cybersecurity solution, Emmanuel began considering how it could address a broader market need and how its technology could be developed for real-world application. His experience shows how access to mentorship, equipment and peer learning can influence the way a young innovator approaches both the problem and the potential solution.
The development of ZED Shield also reflects a wider need for stronger cybersecurity solutions as digital financial services expand. Digital fraud can affect individuals, small businesses and larger organisations, with financial losses potentially undermining confidence in digital platforms. Preventing fraud requires more than simply responding after a victim has lost money, which is why Emmanuel’s focus on proactive threat detection is significant. An AI-powered system could potentially identify suspicious patterns and threats earlier, although the effectiveness of such technology will depend on testing, reliable data and strong security architecture. Through RootLab Ignite, Emmanuel has gained an opportunity to develop his concept further while considering the technical requirements and market realities that will determine whether it can eventually scale.
Purity Kampamba entered the RootLab Ignite programme with a different challenge. Her innovation journey began after she experienced a three-day water outage at her campus residence, an event that prompted her to think more deeply about the reliability and management of water systems. As an environmental engineering student at the Copperbelt University, she began asking whether the problem was an isolated incident or part of a wider challenge affecting homes, schools and industries. Those questions led her to explore ways technology could help identify water losses and improve the efficiency of water management. Her response was HydroMind, a smart water management system designed to detect leaks and support more efficient use of water. The project connects a personal experience with a broader environmental and infrastructure challenge that affects communities and institutions.
Purity’s time at the Mukuba UniPod helped her understand that developing an innovation requires continuous questioning and refinement. Mentors challenged her assumptions and encouraged her to look beyond her initial understanding of the problem. As she tested and developed HydroMind, the solution began to change shape as her understanding of the needs of potential users became clearer. She says the experience helped her align her vision into something people can understand and something that can provide practical value. Her journey illustrates why early-stage innovators need environments where they can test ideas, receive constructive criticism and make changes before attempting to take a product to a larger market.
Water management is an important area for innovation because leaks and inefficient systems can lead to significant losses of a resource that communities and industries depend on every day. Detecting leaks early can help reduce unnecessary water loss and potentially lower operational costs for users of water infrastructure. Smart monitoring systems can also generate information that helps organisations understand consumption patterns and identify areas where intervention is required. HydroMind is still at an early stage, but its focus reflects the type of locally relevant challenge that can benefit from technology-driven solutions. Purity’s work also demonstrates how young innovators can use their academic knowledge to explore practical responses to infrastructure and environmental problems.
Prince Likonge’s innovation journey began with another everyday observation. His mother is a teacher and, while growing up, Prince watched her spend long hours preparing lesson plans and managing other teaching responsibilities. He also noticed differences in how students were taught and assessed across grades and classes, including situations where learners in the same grade could receive different content or tests. These observations led him to consider whether technology could help create greater consistency and efficiency in education administration. At 19, while studying at Kalabo Trades Institute in Western Province, he began developing Catalyst, a platform designed to integrate curricula, lesson planning, attendance and assessments into one streamlined system. His idea seeks to address several administrative and educational challenges through a single digital platform.
For more than a year, Prince concentrated heavily on the technical development of Catalyst. He worked on the interface and backend as he focused on building the product itself. Joining RootLab Ignite encouraged him to consider another side of innovation that is essential to long-term success, namely the business and market dimensions of a technology product. Discussions around market readiness, positioning, investor engagement and marketing helped him understand that building a functional product is only one part of developing a successful start-up. He began to see that product development and market readiness need to progress together if Catalyst is eventually going to reach schools and other potential users.
Prince’s experience also highlights the value of receiving mentorship from people who understand the practical challenges faced by early-stage founders. He entered RootLab Ignite expecting general mentorship but found hands-on guidance that helped him address challenges closer to his current stage of development. This type of support can be particularly valuable for young innovators who may have strong technical skills but limited experience with commercialisation, customer discovery or investor engagement. Understanding how to position a product and communicate its value can determine whether an innovation remains a prototype or develops into a sustainable business. For Prince, RootLab Ignite provided an opportunity to expand his focus beyond building Catalyst and start thinking about the pathway from prototype to viable product.
RootLab Ignite supports this transition by focusing on a stage of the innovation journey that often receives less attention. The programme brought together 14 innovators and created an environment where participants could work on early-stage concepts while receiving mentorship, structured feedback and access to equipment. This stage is important because many promising ideas remain underdeveloped without the resources and guidance required to test their assumptions. Young innovators can have strong technical concepts but still need help understanding users, markets, business models and the practical requirements of scaling. By creating a space where experimentation and iteration are encouraged, RootLab Ignite gives participants an opportunity to improve their ideas before seeking wider opportunities.
The experiences of Emmanuel, Purity and Prince show how different local problems can connect to larger global development priorities. Emmanuel’s work on cybersecurity responds to the risks created by the growing digital economy, while Purity’s HydroMind addresses water efficiency and infrastructure management. Prince’s Catalyst focuses on education technology and the need for more streamlined systems for curricula, lesson planning, attendance and assessment. These challenges exist in different forms across many countries, which means locally developed solutions can potentially have relevance beyond Zambia if they are tested and adapted effectively. Their innovations remain at an early stage, but the process of refining them is an important part of building products capable of addressing wider markets.
The Mukuba UniPod forms part of the United Nations Development Programme’s timbuktoo Initiative, which supports innovation spaces within universities across Africa. These university-based hubs provide young innovators with opportunities to prototype, test, refine ideas and connect with mentors and other participants in the innovation ecosystem. The approach recognises that successful innovation does not always begin with a fully developed business or a finished product. Many entrepreneurs start with an observation, a problem or an early concept that requires substantial development before it can become commercially viable. Providing access to equipment, expertise and structured programmes can therefore help strengthen the foundation on which future African start-ups are built.
The stories of Prince Likonge, Purity Kampamba and Emmanuel Njovu demonstrate the importance of giving young innovators the resources and guidance to develop ideas rooted in their communities. Their participation in RootLab Ignite shows that innovation can begin with simple observations, from seeing a parent struggle with administrative work to experiencing a water outage or hearing stories of people losing money through digital scams. What matters next is having the opportunity to investigate the problem, test possible solutions and understand how those solutions can create measurable value. Programmes such as RootLab Ignite help provide that structure by bringing mentorship, technical resources and market-focused guidance into the early stages of the innovation process. As these young Zambian innovators continue developing their ideas, their journeys offer a clear example of how investment in early-stage talent can contribute to a stronger and more diverse innovation ecosystem in Zambia and across Africa.