Earlier this year, the Africa Prize awarded 15 alumni the £50,000 Africa Prize Business Acceleration Grant, which supports alumni businesses by accelerating growth or diversifying products and services.
We spoke to one of these awardees, Jack Oyugi, CEO of Vertical Lake, Kenya’s first vertical freshwater aquaculture lake system. Using this grant, he completed the construction of a commercial production of his innovative facility, which is inspired by hydroponics.
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The Africa Prize team visited Jack Oyugi during construction of Vertical Lake's production facility.
What inspired you to develop Vertical Lake ?
My journey from biotechnology graduate to eco-entrepreneur was driven by a desire to innovate against invasive species. Lake Victoria faces a significant environmental threat from water hyacinth, a fast-growing invasive plant. In 2018, I developed an innovative method to convert water hyacinth into protein-rich animal feed and started my first company Biofit feeds, which I was shortlisted for the Africa Prize with.
However, challenges with the quality of the protein from the water hyacinth led me to search for a supplementary protein source to enhance the feed’s nutritional value. I eventually turned to aquaculture, using fish meal to boost protein levels. The next challenge was scaling up the process, which resulted a vertical aquaculture system that maximises space and resources. Vertical Lake was born, providing sustainable organic fish protein and organic bio-fertiliser in a highly scalable and truly circular system.
Vertical Farm produces up to 24,000 Tilapia per year in just 15m² of space.
What impact has the Africa Prize Business Acceleration Grant had on your business?
Through the grant, we’ve progressed from pre-commercial prototyping to securing local B2B customers with our latest commercial facility.
Until recently, we produced up to 2,000 fish per year through our three prototype iterations, selling them locally to validate taste and appeal. Now, we are in discussions to supply a fish to hotels in Nairobi. We are also exploring markets for nutrient-rich, pharmaceutical, and medical-grade fish products, including hydrolates, isolates, and fish oils for various industries. We are also exploring the potential medical use of our tilapia skins for advanced wound care solutions. These efforts mark significant progress in the commercialisation of our sustainable fish products.
Jack Oyugi completes construction of Verical Lake's commerical production facility
What is next in your plans for Vertical Lake?
Our grant project has four key elements: facility validation, scaling of production facilities, R&D of monitoring systems, and development of post-production workflows for fish components.
Already we have successfully demonstrated our production capabilities at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7, achieving operational scale and moving close to full commercialisation. Our immediate focus in on scaling our operations to full ‘factory production’ by expanding our facilities from 4 to 16 modules, which will produce over 55 tonnes of fish per year. We are also looking at developing AI technologies to monitor fish health and implementing automation, streamlining our workflow for processing various proteins and collagens. Finally, we want to establish an international presence by setting up a cool-water R&D facility in the UK, with the goal of producing and scaling operations to disrupt unsustainable trout and salmon cage practices.
Jack Oyugi and the Vertical Lake team
What advice would you give to new startups thinking of applying to the Africa Prize?
Since joining the Africa Prize, our business has undergone significant transformation. Several successful grant rounds have helped us pivot our scalable organic protein source to what we have today. Our long-term vision encompasses environmental stewardship, sustainable innovation, community engagement, and ethical practices. We’re setting clear 5 to 10 year milestones to advance our sustainability initiatives, inspire others, and become a global "force multiplier."
For young and new startups considering applying to the Africa Prize: it’s the place to be. Do everything possible to make it onto the programme, and once you’re there, focus on scalability, sustainability, and setting clear long-term goals to ensure your innovation not only succeeds but also contributes positively to the world.