One sleepless night, a persistent mosquito problem and a simple question sparked an idea that would take four young women from Rwanda’s Western Province to the African stage. On 16 October, Team Mosqai Shield won the JA Rwanda Company of the Year competition, earning the opportunity to represent Rwanda at the JA Africa regional finals in South Africa. Their achievement demonstrates how young innovators can transform everyday frustrations into solutions with the potential to make a difference.

The idea began with mosquitoes disturbing their sleep, but research revealed a much bigger concern: mosquito-borne diseases remain a serious public health challenge across Rwanda and Africa. Determined to explore a solution, the team developed Mosqai Shield, a system combining hardware, software and artificial intelligence to monitor mosquito activity. According to the team's public code repositories, its device captures images of a mosquito trap, which are analysed using a YOLOv8 model to detect and count mosquitoes. A mobile application allows users to monitor activity and control the device, while a separate dashboard helps health authorities visualise mosquito activity across connected devices. With further development and validation, this data could support a better understanding of mosquito activity in different areas.

Reaching the national stage required the team to progress through school, district and provincial competitions. Along the way, they experienced anxiety, confidence, discouragement and joy. For them, however, success was about more than advancing through competitions; it was about reaching more people with their idea. Feedback from judges and attendees became one of their most valuable takeaways and is already helping shape the next Mosqai Shield units, which are in production. Their CEO, Umuhoza Ishimwe Henriette, also received the Rising Leader Award, recognising her leadership throughout the journey.

Their achievement builds on Rwanda Coding Academy's growing record in the JA Company Program. In 2025, the school's Agro Haven team won the national competition with a soil-free farming project before representing Rwanda in Abuja, Nigeria. The team later received the Delta Airlines Award, which enabled all four members to attend a Girls Lead Camp in Ghana. Through Junior Achievement Africa's JA Company Program, delivered in Rwanda under the SET4LYF initiative, students develop entrepreneurial skills by creating and running companies over 16 weeks, learning to transform ideas into products and present them to potential customers.

As Mosqai Shield prepares for South Africa, the team continues refining its product and applying lessons from the national competition. The regional finals will offer an opportunity to share its innovation with a wider audience and learn from young entrepreneurs across Africa. Their journey is a reminder that innovation does not always begin in a laboratory or a major technology company. Sometimes, it starts with an everyday problem and the courage to ask questions. For these four young women, one restless night became the beginning of an ambitious idea, taking them from a school competition to the national stage and now towards representing Rwanda across Africa.