In a rural health clinic in Kenya, far from highways and cities, a nurse unlocks a compact steel box and checks a small screen: the temperature is just right. Crucial, because inside lie sensitive vaccines and medicines that have travelled long distances. If the temperature fails, they become useless.<\/p>\n
For many people, access to critical health products that require cold storage is a challenge. Why? Because in many rural areas of the world, unreliable electricity and weak infrastructure are still major barriers to development.<\/p>\n
But these are solvable problems!<\/p>\n
One lesson from my travels and conversations around the globe is this: the solutions already exist! We have the knowledge and the technology for a world without hunger, for clean energy, for resilient and sustainable supply chains. We know how to empower women in business. What is often missing is not innovation, but political will.<\/p>\n
And yet, change is happening – every day across the continent.<\/p>\n
Portable cold chain in Kenya<\/p>\n
The women-led Kenyan start-up DropAccess has developed a simple but powerful solution: a portable, solar-powered cooling box – the VacciBox. It allows vaccines and medical products to be safely transported and stored in off-grid areas. And it is more than a clever box: it rethinks the entire cold chain for communities without electricity.<\/p>\n
So far, more than 1.5 million medical products have been delivered safely, many of them for women and children. Its co-founder and CEO, renewable energy expert Norah Magero, is the second woman globally to win the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. But she is not the only woman driving progress within the company: around 70% of leadership and key technical positions in the company are held by women. In industry where this is still rare, it is also part of their success.<\/p>\n
Solar power for Madagascar and Mali<\/p>\n
Along the Mozambique Channel coastline of Madagascar, nightfall once meant closed shops, dark homes, children could not study. Lack of electricity is not an inconvenience. It limits education, health, and economic opportunity.<\/p>\n
Today, hundreds of villages in Madagascar as well as in Mali that once had to structure their lives around daylight are now illuminated after sunset, powered by solar mini grids that bring light – and with it, new opportunities. Around 800,000 people in 186 villages now have access to electricity through a prepaid, income-adjusted model that reaches low-income households and small businesses alike. The company behind this, WeLight Africa, is B Corp certified. It delivers not only kilowatt hours, but also social and environmental impact.<\/p>\n
UNIDO ONE World Sustainability Awards<\/p>\n
These are not isolated success stories. They show practical and sustainable solutions, built by African entrepreneurs, with real impact and viable business models.<\/p>\n
But too often, they remain local.<\/p>\n
To change this, UNIDO launched the ONE World Sustainability Awards – to identify solutions that work and make them visible. <\/p>\n
Some questioned whether companies would still prioritise sustainability under today’s economic and geopolitical pressure. The response was clear: nearly 2,000 applications from 135 countries.<\/p>\n
DropAccess won in the category Women in Industry, while WeLight Africa won in the category Innovative Start-ups.<\/p>\n
The strong participation from Africa – around 40% of all submissions – sends a clear signal. Companies across the continent are investing in practical solutions that combine efficiency, inclusion, strong social standards, and resilience against climate risk, population growth, and infrastructure gaps. Not as a side activity, but because it makes them competitive. This is the market speaking – loudly!<\/p>\n
But recognition alone is not enough.<\/p>\n
Solutions must be shared, replicated, and scaled. That is our role at UNIDO: identifying solutions that work and helping them grow. Connecting the dots across 173 member states, mobilising partners, and providing a platform where innovators meet investors.<\/p>\n
Women’s participation as an industrial advantage<\/p>\n
At the heart of this transformation is women’s equal participation.<\/p>\n
Companies like DropAccess and many other shortlisted for the Women in Industry award category proved it once again: empowering women in manufacturing and management is first of all a question of fairness – and it is a strategic economic advantage. Yet this potential is too often underestimated.<\/p>\n
That is why UNIDO member states have established the International Day of Women in Industry on 21 April.<\/p>\n
Not as a symbolic gesture, but as a clear business perspective: progress must be visible in investment decisions, budgets, procurement, and boardrooms alike.<\/p>\n
The most resilient companies are those that include women at every level: engineering, production, management, and ownership.<\/p>\n
A world in which women have equal opportunities to innovate, participate and lead is essential for achieving sustainable development globally. At UNIDO, we are working every day on this transformation.<\/p>\n
The time to scale is now<\/p>\n
Africa is already shaping that future.<\/p>\n
From portable cold chains in Kenya to solar-powered villages in Madagascar and Mali, entrepreneurs, many of them women, are driving solutions that work.<\/p>\n
Now is the time to power it.<\/p>\n
Governments must create enabling environments. Corporations must integrate sustainability and inclusion into their core business. Investors must think long-term. And international institutions must accelerate partnerships that bring solutions to scale.<\/p>\n
The future of industry starts now – together.<\/p>\n
Gerd M\u00fcller is Director General, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a rural health clinic in Kenya, far from highways and cities, a nurse unlocks a compact steel box and … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[41,42,44,43,45],"class_list":["post-24442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy-finance","tag-economy","tag-finance","tag-market","tag-stocks","tag-trades"],"yoast_head":"\n