Another standout innovation came from Nondumiso Nkosi of Enactus SMU, founder of HepaSure, who won second place at the 2025 EDHE Absa Innovation Challenge, securing R250 000 in funding to propel her business forward. HepaSure is an accessible and affordable diagnostic solution designed to improve early detection of hepatitis B, particularly in communities underserved by traditional screening methods. By offering a faster, more accurate, and more inclusive testing platform, Nondumiso’s innovation enables healthcare workers to diagnose infections earlier, reducing missed cases and strengthening community health outcomes. Her work is proof that innovation, at its best, saves lives long before it reaches scale — simply by meeting people where the gaps exist.

Ms. Kholofelo Makhubupetsi, a second-year Master’s student in Agriculture and co-founder of CSK Environmental Consulting, an IoT-driven device for environmental and water monitoring, won first place in the Existing Business Tech category, demonstrating technical maturity and commercial readiness in a field critical to climate-resilient development.

Then there was Zanodumo Godlimpi of Walter Sisulu University, an entrepreneur and staff member in WSU’s Faculty of Health Sciences within the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, whose prosthetic foot design received thunderous applause for its potential to transform the lives of lower-limb amputees. His innovation earned high honours because it was built with practicality, biomechanics, and patient mobility at the centre.

Equally notable was Amohetsoe Shale of NAVU Mobility, who is redefining accessible prosthetics through her modular prosthetic knee: a high-functioning system built to be more affordable and more adaptable to the needs of everyday users. Her clarity of purpose and commitment to mobility equity stood out as a model of what meaningful innovation can achieve.

One idea, however, reminded me that innovation does not always need a lab, a patent, or a research department. Tumelo Ratala, founder of Drink & Print, identified a simple yet profound need in his community — access to clean water — and built a business around it. He lives in Bochum, Limpopo, a town situated in a region with high temperatures, historically associated with surrounding salt pans and water scarcity. In a place where filtered water, ice, and basic printing services are not guaranteed conveniences, Tumelo stepped in with one solution that does all three. He filters water, sells water, produces ice, and offers printing services under the same roof because people need it. No complex machinery. No futuristic technology. Just insight, execution, and consistency.

He is literally selling ice in the desert.

What I witnessed during this challenge confirmed what many of us already believe: South Africa is not short of innovation or ambition. What we need now is acceleration, mentorship, capital, market access and infrastructure so these ideas do not die at prototype stage.

At GRIT Hub, we are committed to walking alongside founders like these, not just applauding them, but helping them scale, export, recruit, professionalise, and occupy space in global value chains.

If this competition was a glimpse of what is coming, then we are on the right path. The innovators are here. The ideas are alive. The future is forming, and Africa is rising.