Blindsight Africa Wins Women in STEM Africa Summit Pitch Competition With Smart Glasses for the Visually Impaired

 By Faith Wanza mueni

Photo: Victoria Mwaura founder and CEO blindsight Africa and winner of the pitch competition women in STEM 

Assistive technology firm Blindsight Africa has been crowned winner of the pitch competition at the Women in STEM Africa Summit, organised by WITIA, after judges unanimously backed its smart glasses solution for persons with visual impairment over a strong field of contenders.

The two-day summit brought together entrepreneurs, investors and "ecosystem enablers" for conversations on policy, AI adoption and access to markets and financing for women- and youth-led businesses, before culminating in a live pitch competition that was decided on four criteria: the problem being solved, the state of the market, the traction a business has shown, and the strength of its market and business model.

Blindsight Africa, the technology arm of parent company Provision Sight Africa, took the top spot with a product that pairs smart glasses with a companion mobile application to help visually impaired users navigate their environment. The device captures surroundings and relays information back to the user through audio describing scenes, reading text aloud, flagging obstacles and even reading out passwords.

Announcing the result, the lead judge kelvin Korir told the audience the decision was unanimous. "We're very happy about this number one, mostly because it was a unanimous decision. All the judges  there was no arguments, there was no debate about it," Korir said, adding that the panel evaluated pitches on the condition of the market, traction shown, and the underlying business model rather than presentation alone.

Victoria Mwaura the 500,000 cash prize winner said the recognition mattered less for personal accolades than for the wider disability-tech space. "This is bringing impact into the space of vision-impaired persons," they said, noting that assistive technology aimed at this group has often lagged behind other consumer tech. "We're making something that is just as advanced as technological solutions in the market... and making sure that it brings impact to persons with vision impairment."

With the support secured at the summit, the company said it now plans to refine its product, build models tailored to African users, and manufacture a new batch of roughly 70 units for wider testing in Kenyan schools, workplaces and community settings for the blind. "We want it to now increase our attraction and test it in even wider settings," Victoria Mwaura said, describing the win as validation after a year spent building the technology from the ground up.

Second place went to InnoVid also referred to during the summit as Innovate  a business connecting women and youth entrepreneurs to markets and financing. The company's CEO and co-founder, Eliud Luta, said the placement capped two days in which he had also moderated summit conversations on policy and AI adoption before pitching on the final day.

"We were lucky to come out of the pitching as number two, and of course we were able to win 50 million [Kenya shillings] worth of bonds that will be integrated into our platform to help women entrepreneurs, as well as youth entrepreneurs, access markets and financing," Luta said. Judges said InnoVid was tackling a difficult "market readiness" problem connecting the two sides of a procurement equation and would receive additional backing from financing partner Gula, potentially unlocking up to KSh 50 million in initial supplier support.

Luta said the business's core goal was addressing a structural gap in access to capital. "Traditionally, we know most of the wealth in our societies is controlled and owned by men, and so women are getting into entrepreneurship but most of them can't get the money they need to build businesses," he said, adding that InnoVid aims to link entrepreneurs to institutions that can provide that financing. He used the platform to issue a call to action to summit organisers and partners to expand support ahead of next year's edition, and encouraged women who missed this year's summit to take part in 2027.

Third place went to Tally Checkman, a proximity technology company that entered the competition presenting itself as attendance software but was recognised by judges for the adaptability of its underlying technology across different use cases. Judges praised the company's combined software and hardware offering and its go-to-market strategy, awarding it a week of support from UK-based Kinescope Hub. A separate pitch prize for best overall presentation went to Playbus, which judges said captured the audience and clearly communicated its investment case, though it did not place in the top three.

Photo: Victoria Mwaura founder and CEO blindsight Africa and winner of the pitch competition women in STEM 

Organisers said the summit's broader aim was to connect early-stage founders  particularly women led and youth led ventures with investors, financiers and technical partners who can help them scale beyond the pitch stage.