At the Global Startup Awards Africa in Addis Ababa, four Nigerian startups were recognised, giving them the opportunity to compete internationally in hopes of receiving more funding and recognition.
The financial services startup Awabah, which caters to Nigeria’s informal sector, won the title of “Best Newcomer,” and Dataleum, a tech training and consulting company, won the title of “Best Edtech.” The two other Nigerian winners are Emergency Response Africa, a healthcare technology company that offers medical treatment to victims at the scene of emergencies, and Zuri Health, a virtual hospital platform (Future Shaper Award) (Best HealthTech).
With the help of 300 jurors, ambassadors, and hundreds of innovation hubs throughout the continent, over 15,000 African innovators from 54 countries submitted nominations for the GSA Africa awards, which got underway in 2021. With assistance from the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) Ethiopia, this year’s event was organised in association with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Skills (MOLS), and the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT).
The organisers announced a total of 16 winners in various startup ecosystem categories. The largest independent startup ecosystem competition on the African continent, according to GSA Africa. The African winners advance to the global round of the Global Startup Awards, where they will compete on a global scale and receive additional support and recognition. At the grand finale of the previous season in Copenhagen in March 2023, two African startups were recognised as global winners. Ethiopian greentech startup Kubik won “Startup of the Year” after competing against more than 120 businesses from 115 countries, and Ugandan fintech startup Emata won “Best Newcomer.”
The Egyptian biotech company Coffee Resurrect (Best Greentech), Kenya’s BasiGo (Best Mobility and Logistics), Ghana’s Developers in Vogue (Diversity Role Model of the Year), and Egypt’s Freeziana.com (Founder of the Year) are among the other winners of this year’s GSA Africa awards. The Egyptian women’s safety and anti-harassment app Hiryo also won Startup of the Year.
Mo Angels, Mauritius’s first syndicated angel investment group, won VC of the Year, and Hani W. Naguib, an Egyptian business designer and innovation consultant, was named Ecosystem Hero. The Tunisian agritech startup MooMe, which helps monitor dairy farming production, won Best Agritech Startup, and the South African Web 3.0 investment platform Momint won Best Web 3.0 Startup.
The American University in Cairo Venture Lab, Egypt’s first university-based startup accelerator, won Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme, while Zofi Cash, a Ugandan startup that is revolutionising how salaried individuals access their wages, won Best Commerce Tech. Uganda’s Tech Buzz Hub was named Best Co-working Space.