… Solar-Powered Refrigeration, Affordable Dialysis, Electricity-Free Water Purification Take The Top Prizes
Moniepoint and Tosin Eniolorunda Foundation have awarded ₦1 million in prizes to three final-year Mechanical Engineering teams at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) for outstanding innovative projects tackling practical challenges in agriculture, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.
The awards followed the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s final-year project exhibition where 12 student teams presented solutions to real-world problems. A panel of judges, including Chidinma Enemanna, Lead Executive Communications, Moniepoint Inc, assessed the projects based on originality, engineering design, innovation, practicality and their potential contribution to national development. First place took home ₦500,000, the first runner-up ₦300,000, and the second runner-up ₦200,000.
The first-place team developed EcoRide, a 12V DC solar-powered mobile refrigerator, built to move perishable goods and farm produce to rural communities that lack affordable refrigeration. The first runner-up designed a biomimetic high-flux dialysis membrane mechanism to explore more affordable treatment for rural communities and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The second runner-up built a gravity-fed water purification system that treats oil-spill-contaminated water in the Niger Delta and other affected communities, with no electricity required.
Speaking on the initiative, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Moniepoint Group, Edidiong Uwemakpan, said: “The strength of any economy lies in the quality of its young talents. These students have shown what is possible when ambition meets the right support, and their solutions speak directly to the needs of our communities. Moniepoint, together with the Tosin Eniolorunda Foundation, remains committed to investing in the people and ideas that will drive Nigeria’s development.”
The Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Adam Muritala, described the exhibition as a bridge between academia and industry. “Let us invest in their ideas while they are still in the university environment,” he said, calling on stakeholders to back student innovation early.
The exhibition also hosted students from 10 secondary schools. Director of OAU’s Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office, Prof. Grace Ogunlusi, encouraged the visiting students to research and think carefully about how to solve problems.
The awards and exhibition build on the Foundation’s earlier investment at OAU. In 2024, it renovated and equipped the Department’s laboratory, now the Tosin Eniolorunda CAD/CAM Laboratory, at a cost of over ₦100 million, providing students with better infrastructure for engineering education, research, and innovation. In 2026, Tosin Eniolorunda Foundation and Moniepoint Group also launched the N3bn innovation hub across three Nigerian universities, OAU, UNN and ABU, with a mandate to build the next generation of tech talents.
