Four Global Innovators determined to change the world

Smart Labour (UAE)

The mobile app, which has 40,000 registered users, allows people and organisations to purchase vouchers such as talk-time for international calls.

Labourers take short courses in reading, writing, basic computer literacy and communication skills. Once they complete the course, they can redeem the vouchers to speak with loved ones back home and receive other benefits.

Abu Muadh, founder of Smart Labour, said: “There are more than two million blue-collar workers in the UAE with access to smart phones. Due to a lack of education, many are unable to express themselves as clearly as they would like to. The app can help to improve this situation, benefitting millions in the region.”

F123 (Brazil)

F123 is developing a portable and affordable talking computer that provides visuallyimpaired people with greater independence.

Fernando H.

F. Botelho, founder of F123, who is blind, said: “Our objective is to make F123’s software widely available to people with visual impairments, 90 per cent of whom live in developing countries. The Expo Live grant enabled us to create the world’s first free Arabic speech synthesiser, which is compatible with low-cost computers.

“Participating in the Global Innovators Summit lets us benefit from the expertise and assistance of the Expo Live team and Expo 2020’s partners. It makes us want to work even harder to make this world a better place.”

Kabadiwalla Connect (India)

A lot of household waste in India and elsewhere is collected by ‘informal’ waste pickers who sell waste to ‘kabadiwallas’

(scrap dealers), who in turn sell them to recyclers. Kabadiwalla Connect, based in the south Indian city of Chennai, links this informal sector to the ‘formal’ waste management sector, such as municipalities and recycling companies.

Siddharth Hande, founder and CEO of Kabadiwalla Connect, said there is a waste management crisis in cities. The goal is to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by 70 per cent, which is around 50 million tonnes of waste a year.

“In the developing world, our larger mission is to bring 15 million people, who survive on salvaging recyclables, out of the fold,” he said.

WAVE Academy (Nigeria)

Around half of youth in Nigeria are unemployed in the formal sector. WAVE (West Africa Vocational Education) aims to ‘upskill’ youth in Nigeria and West Africa so they can have stable jobs.

Its academies provide vocational training, soft skills and qualifications in less than a month. Once hired, gradutes pay a month’s salary as fees in easy instalments.

Misan Rewane, CEO, WAVE Academy, said: “Most young people live on less than $2 a day, haven’t gone to university and are blocked out of the formal economy because they don’t have a degree, or work experience, or skills. We provide all that to them.”

In the last five years, WAVE has helped place over 2,500 youth with over 300 employers.