Photo contest captures change of a continent.
Agility recently announced winners of its Africa 2016 Photo Competition, images that show how quickly Africa is modernizing, growing and even leading the way in new technology. The annual contest, now in its second year, is a pan-Africa photography competition focusing on Africa’s rapid modernization. This year’s competition drew more than 2,500 photographs from professional and amateur photographers in 30 countries. The winning images depict a fisherman in a canoe on Lake Victoria on his laptop, a solar farm in Rwanda powering 15,000 homes, and the skyline of Harare, Zimbabwe.
A cash prize of $2,000 was awarded for each competition category. The winners were Stephen Simiyu, a photographer from Nairobi, Kenya (Technology); Henry Oliver Hakulandaba, an environmental consultant and photographer from Harare (Cities); and Esdore Hakizimana, a machine operator from Kigali, Rwanda (Industry). Simiyu also won the Grand Prize of $2,000 for his photograph of a fisherman using a laptop in a canoe on Lake Victoria, Uganda.
For more than 20 years, George Atika’s fishing business on Lake Victoria has helped him provide his family with a comfortable life. Now they have joined the global digital world.
The winning photographs and the runners-ups were featured at a session at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and were shown at the Thomson Reuters Africa Summit 2016 in Cape Town in October. They also were showcased in Forbes Africa, on CNBC Africa.
Simiyu, the Grand Prize winner, said he was trying to take a photograph that illustrated how much Africa is transforming: “I needed an image that could tell that story in one picture. The competition really made me think about Africa – there’s nowhere like it.”
Hakulandaba, winner in the Cities category, said non-Africans are continually surprised by the pace of change in Africa. “Whenever I exhibit images of Harare or any other African city, there is always someone who says they never thought Africa has such development,” he said. “This competition is a platform to reach a wider audience about African development. It will help change perspectives of the continent’s potential.”
This 42-acre solar power farm 20 miles east of Kigali, Rwanda, has a capacity of 10 megawatts. The energy it produces powers nearly 15,000 homes. Operational since July 2014 it went from contract signing to producing in just 12 months.
“The winning images speak eloquently about the historic change underway in Africa and the opportunities for Africans, African businesses and the world,” said Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Africa. “As a company investing in the logistics infrastructure of the continent, we are proud to show the world powerful images that capture a more positive view of Africa and demonstrate the progress that has already been made, hopefully changing the perceptions of Africa in 2016.”
The central business district of Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, just after rush hour.
