Fast-growing consumer industries are generating unsustainable levels of plastic waste.

Textile and industrial parks are discharging untreated wastewater into local ecosystems.

Smallholders are highly vulnerable to unpredictable weather patterns and droughts.

Large quantities of scrap material from leather and textile factories are discarded rather than repurposed.

Lack of reliable energy and cold chains for essential medicines in remote clinics.

Broad systemic challenge regarding lack of coffee traceability and fair pricing.

Broad systemic challenge regarding rural energy poverty and lack of productive power.

Broad systemic challenge regarding financial exclusion of informal sector workers.

Broad systemic challenge regarding lack of reliable street addressing.

Broad systemic challenge regarding high industrial defect rates.

Broad systemic challenge regarding public sector innovation silos.

Ethiopian cities face a massive housing deficit with traditional methods being too slow and expensive.

Approximately 30-40% of produce is lost between farm and market due to lack of cold storage.

High rates of non-revenue water and inefficient distribution systems in urban utilities.

With the digital boom, thousands of tons of electronics are ending up in landfills. This challenge seeks a scalable system for collecting, refurbishing, or extracting rare minerals from local e-waste.

Broad systemic challenge regarding urban transport inefficiency.

Getting produce from rural farms to urban markets or export hubs is plagued by high costs, lack of cold chain infrastructure, and fragmented transport networks. This results in 30-40% post-harvest loss for perishable goods.

Ethiopian startups struggle to move from Idea to MVP because there is a lack of local Angel Investors and early-stage VC funds. We need a standardized framework for "Startup Convertible Notes" under Ethiopian law.

Ethiopia spends hundreds of millions of USD importing palm oil while producing vast amounts of oilseeds (sesame, niger seed). The challenge is to scale local high-tech refining facilities to meet domestic demand.

With over 2 million youth entering the job market annually in Ethiopia, traditional employment sectors are saturated. The challenge is to scale the gig economy and digital labor platforms to provide sustainable, dignified work for thousands of skilled and semi-skilled young people.

Broad systemic challenge regarding education inequality in rural areas.