WWF Zambia 117d ago

The Africa PachiPanda Challenge 2026 brought together top young entrepreneurs from Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa to pitch scalable green solutions across food security, clean energy, circularity and water resilience. The event, held in Johannesburg, showcased the continent’s strongest early-stage eco innovators trained through a high impact Masterclass led by Deloitte, GSMA, MTN, UNDP and WWF. Continental winners included: • 1st – Cameroon: nTron STEM Kit converting plastic waste into 3D printing filament • 2nd – Nigeria: BuyScrap e-waste innovation • 3rd – Cameroon: AgriCheck supporting climate-smart agriculture Zambia’s Thematic Award Winners • Flame Innovation Zambia – Thematic Excellence Award & Ubuntu Award for advancing circularity through a waste-to-energy solution that strengthens community inclusion. • Mckingtorch Zambia – Rising Star Award for demonstrating rapid innovation growth and clear potential for scale. The Challenge builds on the foundation laid by the now-completed MoMo4C programme, which strengthened Zambia’s green entrepreneurship ecosystem and supported early-stage Nature based Solution ideas, creating a strong pipeline of innovators progressing to the continental stage. PachiPanda, a Zambian word meaning “community”, reflects the belief that climate solutions grow stronger when people work together. This spirit aligns fully with WWF’s Together Possible ethos as partners unite to elevate Africa’s youth-led green enterprises. What began as a Zambian pilot has now grown into a multi-country innovation platform replicated across MTN markets in Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa, supporting early-stage green entrepreneurs across five nations.