Fopa Kuete Duclaire, a 23-year-old student at the University of Dschang, has won the 10 million francs CFA presidential prize for the best ICT project by university students in Cameroon.
Duclaire emerged as the best out of 20 finalists for his application, InReach, an innovative AI-powered digital platform designed to break down digital barriers for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community by translating web content into sign language in real time.
The app was selected from 639 project submissions received by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for the Best ICT Project Awards, which aim to reward excellence among tech university students. Twenty projects were retained for the final competition, among them InReach, and the students attended a bootcamp in Yaounde to fine-tune their projects and pitch them to experts.
The results were announced on Friday, July 31, during a ceremony closing the 2026 Digital Innovation Week in Yaoundé, chaired by Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng.
InReach is seen as an innovative platform that aims to ease internet use for the more than 265,000 Cameroonians living with hearing impairment. Data presented by the app developers indicates that between 0.9 and 3.6 percent of Cameroon’s 30 million inhabitants live with hearing loss, an estimated 265,000 to 1.06 million people.
Despite this, sign language interpreters in the country remain grossly few. Out of 1.5 billion people with hearing impairments globally, 70 million are deaf and mute, many of whom remain excluded from online content.
The innovation is seen as a significant step towards digital inclusion.
Duclaire’s prize, which also includes a laptop and internet equipment, will potentially boost his quest to perfect the platform and make it a national and global resource for the deaf.
1. InReach by Fopa Kuete Duclaire (Dschang, 10 million francs)
2. MinorShield by Abdoul-Hamid Oumamrou (Yaounde, 4 million francs)
3. Al-Powered Offline-First Smart Farming Platform by Britney Muokoko (Yaounde, 2.5 million francs)
4. Go Green Smart Waste System by Jones Yondo (Bamenda, 1.5 million francs)
5. Fact Checker Plus by Chetchueng Kamsu Patrick Loic (Yaounde, 1 million francs)
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