By Kondwani Magombo
Twenty-four-year-old Staff Nyoni has emerged top winner of this year’s National ICT Innovations Awards with his innovation, The Blind Classroom, a voice-based AI powered mechanism to help students with visual impairment to learn just like the rest.
Vison Thondoya, 26, has emerged second in the competition with his innovation, interactive experiments for secondary school, an innovation meant to enable learners conduct all sorts of experiments online from wherever they are.
The top two winners will represent Malawi at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2026.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Dr. Shadric Namalomba, has since commended the winners and he has awarded each of the two an i-phone handset, courtesy of President Prof. Peter Mutharika.
Twenty ICT innovators were shortlisted for the competition from 260 applicants, according to Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) Director General, Mayamiko Nkoloma.
