Two Kenyan students, Kon Lual and Ian Mwadiloh, have transformed their victory at the 2025 Young Scientists Kenya (YSK) National Exhibition into new academic and innovation opportunities, demonstrating how science competitions can shape future careers.
After winning the national exhibition, Kon is set to begin his studies at Strathmore University in September, while Ian is already a first-year Electrical and Electronics Engineering student at the institution.
Their award-winning project, Afronomy Chain—a blockchain-based platform designed to improve transparency in public fund management—has evolved significantly since the competition. Following feedback from judges, the duo expanded the system by introducing Netizen, a public-facing platform that enables citizens to engage directly with government financial data instead of relying solely on institutional oversight.
Reflecting on his journey, Kon encouraged aspiring innovators to embrace failure as part of success.
> “Go for it as early as you can, so that you can fail long enough to succeed,” he said.
Ian echoed the sentiment, advising young innovators to view setbacks as opportunities to improve their ideas through feedback and continuous refinement.
The National Director of Young Scientists Kenya, Dr. Victor Mwongera, said the programme aims to nurture critical thinkers and problem-solvers capable of driving innovation beyond the classroom.
As part of their reward, the two students travelled to Dublin, Ireland, through a nine-year partnership between Young Scientists Kenya and Ireland’s Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. The visit exposed them to leading innovators and entrepreneurs, including Patrick Collison, who won Ireland’s national science exhibition before co-founding global payments company Stripe.
Kon believes African students possess enormous untapped potential to create globally impactful innovations.
> “Even us, African students, have a potential that is untapped. We can innovate the next big things,” he said.
Meanwhile, Young Scientists Kenya 2026 will take place from August 5 to August 9 at Moi Girls High School, Nairobi, where 308 students will present 154 STEM projects under the theme “Shaping Kenya’s AI Future Using STEM.”
Young Scientists Kenya is an initiative of the Kenyan Ministry of Education and the Government of Ireland, created to encourage young people to develop practical scientific solutions to challenges in their communities while inspiring more students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
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