A Nigerian Pharmacist Adebayo Alonge has put Nigeria on the global map of recognition by winning the 2019 BNP Paribas Group Deep Tech Prize for inventing handheld nanoscanners that can detect fake drugs.

The award, organised under the umbrella of Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge, is a renowned global startup competition designed specifically to address the needs of deeptech entrepreneurs across several different industries and technologies.

The Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge gives scientists and deeptech entrepreneurs from across the world a platform for their research and projects, providing equity-free prize money as well as other funding opportunities, global visibility and connections with key players in the deeptech innovation network.

Alonge who was emotional while receiving the award, said: “Thank you so much. It’s been a long journey personally for me, from the 15 years when I was surviving from a fake drug to standing today in front of you here and letting you to be in my dream and the dream of my co-founders to make sure that most of people are safe from fake medicines.”

He also tweeted: “Really emotional victory for me in particular and my team. The love and support for me and my team at RxAll Inc. from all of the innovators at @hellotomorrow was really touching. I appreciate @BNPParibas for supporting deapTech #htsummit #safedrugsworld #Rxscanner.”

RxAll was coFounded by Adebayo Alonge who codeveloped a miniature nanoscanner that uses AI to identify drugs and assess their quality on mobile phones. He credits his science education at King’s College Lagos and at the Pharmacy School, University of Ibadan for providing the building blocks of this innovative technology.

Hello Tomorrow organises an annual challenge that seeks to identify the best deepTech solution in the world. The challenge takes place over a 6 month period.

In the 2019 deepTech challenge, 4500 deepTech startups applied from across 119 countries. A global jury of the best deepTech scientists and investors reviewed the applications, selected the Top 500 deepTech applicants and organised regional pitch contests to select the Top 80 finalists for the finals in Paris in March 2019.