Who will be EDF Pulse Africa 2019's first finalist?

Yesterday, six Moroccan start-ups took part to the EDF Pulse Africa Tour. Each of them had to present its project in front of a group of energy and innovation experts. The gathering point between all the projects? They were all developing tangible solutions to daily Moroccan issues. Batteries malfunction due to hard climate conditions, overconsumption of water and electricity because of a lack of management, loss of energy within the production cycle… So many challenges to take up for those young entrepreneurs.

Eventually, one project rose above the other. Azolis, a Moroccan start-up created in 2015, has been awarded with the first prize. This young enterprise was born with the ambition to develop batteries which include a Battery Management System in order to optimize their use and their longevity. To summarize the whole idea, Azolis bets on a new technology that allows batteries to live a long-lasting life. And what gives Azolis its strength is its global perspective: it targets as well rural and urban areas, both on-grid and off-grid households. That is why its impact on the local ecosystem cannot be neglected! This prize will allow Guillaume Jeangros, Azolis’ founder and CEO, to defend its project during the Great Finale of EDF Pulse Africa on the 21^st of November in Paris.

But if Azolis has been awarded with the first prize, other startups stood out from the crowd. Winsol has been elected “Coup de Coeur” by the jury, for its project of optimization of renewable energy production. It endeavors to develop a hybrid product that can use both wind and solar energy on the very same surface to double the energy efficiency. To help the project to succeed and to make green energy more accessible, Winsol will be supported during one year by emlyon campus Casablanca. Actually, as emlyon is a key actor within the innovation field in Morocco, it has been a natural and very strong partner for this first edition.

And last but not least, Farasha Systems. This company, willing to improve the management and the maintenance process of power plants thanks to drone control and digitalization, has been granted with the “Coup de Pouce” Prize. Leader Occitanie, creator of the Prize and EDF solid partner for this edition, will support and help Farasha Systems’ team during one year to develop their project. The project’s assets? The reduction of both the electricity production costs and its ecological footprint.

For Mario Bernardo, manager of the North Africa division and head of the jury, the EDF Pulse Africa Tour is already a success: “this Moroccan edition has revealed the national start-ups’ huge potential. We are proud to encourage those Moroccan entrepreneurs who were able to create ambitious projects which will become the energy solutions of tomorrow”. Actually, both the jury and the speakers contributed to boost the dynamic within the innovation and entrepreneurship fields. How did they do so? In order to choose a winner between the 6 candidates, some experts of the Moroccan ecosystem took part in the event and discussed innovation and energy subjects: future of solar solutions in Africa, relationships between Morocco and Occitanie region for the ecological transition … Among others, Badr Ikken and Saïd Mouline, general managers of IRESEN and AMEE, actively took part in the debates and deliberation all the day long.

We now know the first name of our Great Finalists. Who will be next? Let’s meet up on the 12^th of September in Dakar to discover the name of the Senegalese winner!