Patience Muchemwa
Zim Now Reporter
Zimbabwean Tadiwanashe Mutibura named as the United Nations Trade and Development Supply Chain Innovation Challenge winner this past week.
Mutibura was presented with the award at Ilaro Court, the official residence of the prime minister of Barbados.
“It definitely was a very, very humbling experience because, for me, I’m not yet quite in the industry. This was more based on a gap that I saw in the industry and the things that needed to be addressed, said Mutibura whose winning proposal was on “Solar-powered locker-sized booths for small-scale cross-border traders”.
The Supply Chain Innovation Challenge was conceptualised to leverage participants’ collective creativity, inspiring them to suggest innovative solutions to global supply chain operations and how to make them greener, more efficient, and resilient.
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“The wide range of creative and innovative ideas that were shared with us are a further motivation to invest in sustainable and resilient supply chains for future generations,” said UNCTAD’s Head of the Trade Logistics Branch, Jan Hoffmann, who led the judging panel.
He said 75 proposals were received within the period January 17 to March 17 were evaluated on level of innovation, feasibility, scalability, sustainability, and resilience.
Mutibura said that young people need to step forward and claim their space on the global stage.
“So, in general, you find young people typically aren’t willing to jump forward, because even after I won, I was feeling like, there’s no way they picked my thing over everyone else. So, just be confident, and like my dad likes to say, ‘fail hard, fail fast’. Because, that way you’ve overcome that ‘what if’; what if you put out a solution? If it doesn’t work, move on to the next thing because you don’t know who it’s going to affect,” Said Mutibura.
The Private Sector Award went to Cristina Martin from Madrid, Spain, for her proposal “USYNCRO, a Blockchain and AI Platform to Impulse Digital Logistics Corridors Worldwide”.
“It’s a great honour to be here having this award because we have been working in digital corridors with blockchain and artificial intelligence for six years.
"So, this is a recognition of our hard work …. But the most important thing is for organisations and governments to hear about our concepts and want to be as diverse between the different regions. So, for me, it’s a dream to be here,” Martin said.
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