Ubuntu Challenge showcases solutions that can improve lives

Providing light in rural Rwanda was the winning solution presented the first Ubuntu Challenge. Created by Carnegie Mellon University Africa's (CMU-Africa) Student Guild representing the Class of 2026, the event, held on November 14, 2025, featured 11 teams pitching projects for prizes.

"We wanted this challenge to leave a legacy from our class, and hopefully every class," said Afsanat Ineza, president of the Student Guild for the Class of 2026. "We wanted teams to think about solutions for real issues because we are an engineering school and we wanted to do something that reflects the College of Engineering." Ineza is earning her master’s of science degree in information technology at CMU-Africa.

"This challenge was a call for students who are in the ideation phase, those students who already have ideas that they were working on, to come and present what they have," she said. The teams had less than two weeks to prepare before the final pitch session.

Projects were evaluated by a panel of judges on sustainability, innovation, and community impact. Teams were asked to design bold, cost-effective solutions that improve lives and address key regional issues in sectors including healthcare, education, agriculture, energy, transportation, and environmental management. The criteria also included that each team had to reflect the diversity, interdisciplinary expertise, and the international spirit of CMU-Africa.

Andasy, a cloud services company, collaborated with the Student Guild on the challenge, providing support.

"The first-place team, IZARA, created a project that provides solar LED lighting in rural Rwanda, where more than 35 percent of the households do not have electricity. The team provides the light to a mini-grid of homes or to standalone housing and use recycled bottles as light diffusers," Ineza said.

Team IZARA's solution was selected by the Class of 2026 as its flagship project and will be developed collaboratively during the final semester in partnership with Andasy and an aligned Rwandan Ministry partner.

"The project will represent the collective legacy of the Class of 2026, with the goal of achieving real-world deployment before graduation," Ineza said. "Our vision was that every year the graduating class will support projects providing solutions. We are excited because the Student Guild for the Class of 2027 plans to continue the challenge."