Niger’s Mamane Kabirou Ousseini Wins Africa Engineering Prize for Likita Care

Nigerien engineer and entrepreneur Mamane Kabirou Ousseini has won the 2026 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, receiving £50,000 for Likita Care, a locally manufactured medical monitoring platform designed for hospitals and clinics operating with limited resources.

Ousseini is the first engineer from Niger to participate in and win the competition, organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The award was presented at a ceremony in Johannesburg on 28 October 2026.

Likita Care gives healthcare workers access to real-time patient information through connected monitoring devices and clinical software. The system supports patient, cardiac and prenatal monitoring, while an embedded artificial intelligence module helps interpret vital signs. A central dashboard allows staff to monitor multiple patients simultaneously.

Local Manufacturing Addresses Equipment Shortages

Ousseini developed the idea after working on medical equipment maintenance and repairs in Niger's hospitals. He found that imported monitoring devices could become unusable when spare parts were unavailable or facilities could not access specialist technical support.

Likita Care was established to address that problem by developing equipment that can be manufactured and maintained locally. Its production process uses digital fabrication methods, including 3D printing and computer numerical control (CNC) cutting, alongside electronics assembly.

The platform tracks 12 vital-sign indicators across adults, newborns and foetuses. Its dashboard can support the monitoring of between 10 and 20 patients at a time, with digital clinical protocols and offline AI decision support designed for facilities with unreliable internet access.

The technology has moved beyond the prototype stage. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, more than 70 monitoring units have been produced for deployment. Five medical centres have introduced the technology, where trials involving over 100 patients have generated more than 4,000 data points.

The £50,000 award will support Ousseini's efforts to establish Likita Care commercially in Niger. He also wants to prepare the business for entry into other West African markets.

Kenya and South Africa Take Runner-Up Awards

Three other finalists each received £10,000. South African innovator Dyllon Randall's Pee-Cycling system converts human urine into liquid fertiliser and treated water for reuse. Pee-Cycling is designed to recover useful resources from human urine. When operating at full capacity, the system can handle 3,000 litres a day, producing liquid fertiliser and treated water.

Alice Muhuhu, a doctor from Kenya, developed MoyoECG to make initial heart assessments more accessible to frontline healthcare workers. The portable device helps identify patients who may need further cardiac examination. Another Kenyan finalist, Naom Monari, founded Renal Roads, which takes dialysis services to patients through mobile treatment units, including in rural areas.

The One-to-Watch recognition went to Ghana's Johannes Amo-Aye, who received £5,000 for Fusion Wind Turbine. His system combines wind and solar generation to supply electricity to communities with limited access to power.

The Africa Prize programme gives shortlisted entrepreneurs eight months of training, mentoring and business support to help them develop their engineering solutions into commercial ventures. Applications for the next round are expected to open in mid-2027.