2024 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica Conference

The “Meet the Entrepreneur” competition is an opportunity to pitch your ideas to the IEEE Smart Village community. This video pitch competition, in view of the ‘decade of action’ aimed at driving change between 2020 and 2030, invites individuals with original and innovative approaches to current world problems. These projects should have exciting potential in line with the IEEE Smart Village’s three core pillars I.e. Energy/Technology, Education and Enterprise development, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, this year’s Meet the Entrepreneur’s competition (MTE@PAC24) is planned to inspire, promote and ensure energy security for Africa. 

What Do We Require of You?
Just send a short video (videos longer than 7-minutes will be automatically rejected) highlighting your exciting fast-growing startup with local or global market ambitions. Show us your field experience and provide us with an insight into how you execute your business strategy. We particularly encourage proposals for competitions from emerging areas or innovative technologies for ISV interdisciplinary topics to attract a significant cross-section of the group.

We recognize that everyone is a gold medal winner in their own way, so we will strive to identify and highlight the different unique skill sets exhibited in the various submissions. The criteria used to judge the videos will be based on whether there is a story narration, the clarity in flow of thoughts, the audience’s reaction, visual appeal, overall impression of the narrative, how compelling is the idea and finally, attention to detail.

There will be a total of 5 awards, $500 award each in the categories of:

• “Best overall production” – aka “Academy Awards or Best Picture” highest quality video, audio, lighting, informative and entertaining. Overall great production) – The ideal candidate will have a chance to produce, direct or create other videos for Smart Village. This criterion is not focused on the idea but the effort put into making the video presentable. See the video that won this award in PAC 2022.
• “Most likely to succeed” – aka – “Best Screenplay” – Regardless of the quality of the video produced, the ideal project appears to be a project/program with best chances of success if it were to be funded and supported. The ideal candidate would be in an outstanding position for future ISV funding consideration. They are a potential candidate to evaluate for other ISV support applications. They could also be a script-writer for other projects/programs to be videotaped. See the video that won this award in PAC 2022.
• “Most Charismatic Delivery” – aka “Best Actor” – This recognition will be awarded to the best story teller or narrator or one who looks best “on camera” This person will have the chance to be the future “voice” of Smart Village … Maybe be an on-camera spokesperson or provide voice-over narration on other ISV videos. See the video that won this award in PAC 2022.
• “Best Planned Project” – aka “Best Production Design” – This recognition will be awarded to the candidate who has the most financially thought out, most sustainable project or program proposal. Their project has the real potential to go to scale and reach hundreds of thousands of people soon.  A project or program that can be replicated by others and expanded, this would serve as a replicable model for other energy entrepreneurs. See the video that won this award in PAC 2022.
• “Best Technical Advance”– aka “Scientific & Technical Award” – This could be an actual hardware/software project or program, or a conceptual/pilot or wild idea. In effect it could be a great microgrid installation or a new concept for a technical solution that needs to be developed. See the video that won this award in PAC 2022.

Benefits of the Award

The additional benefits include:

• Opportunity to earn a $500 prize in 1 of 5 categories.
• Display your project to leadership of IEEE Smart Village
• Introduce and solicit support for your project from IEEE and other funders
• Get feedback from your peers who are doing similar projects across the Globe
• Demonstrate your on-camera and off-camera video skills
• Be featured on the ISV website and other IEEE media channels

Selection Process
All submitted videos will be judged by peers (co-entrepreneurs), the Academy Awards are selected by the “Academy members.” ISV is following the same process. All registered ISV delegates to the conference will be invited to view and vote on each video submission.

Videos will be released for viewing a week before the start of the conference. Votes will be tabulated during the conference and the winners in each category will be announced on Friday – October 11, 2024.
During the assessment, the parameters to be considered will include Impact, originality, and relevance to ISV three pillars. Aspects like humanitarian and/or positive social effects are particularly encouraged this year.

Important Dates
Video submission opens on June 7, 2024 and closes on September 15, 2024 (midnight GMT). The videos of the competition will be made available shortly before the conference for your peers to review and vote.

How to Submit a Video

• Download and read the general Rules for the Competition using this link.
• Do a short video and upload to either YouTube or Vimeo.
• Download and Complete the IEEE Release Form.
• Submit the video link and IEEE Release form using this link.