Global Startup Awards Africa identifies 16 leading African startups across diverse sectors
The Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa, in conjunction with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Skills, the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology with the support of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute Ethiopia, on Tuesday revealed the names of 16 category winners at the just ended GSA Africa Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The GSA Africa awards began in 2021, resulting in over 15,000 African innovators nominated from 54 countries, with the support of 300 jury members, ambassadors, and hundreds of innovation hubs across the continent.
“The GSA Africa is meant to raise the visibility of African innovation as a unifying mechanism that transcends borders, cultures, and nationalities, as well as the diverse maturity levels of the various startup ecosystems,” said Jo Griffiths, co-founder of the GSA Africa and GIIG. “It provides us all a common language, fosters understanding and connection, and serves as a platform for implementing a shared vision of scaled impact,” Griffiths noted.
Further, Caitlin Nash, co-founder of GSA Africa and GIIG added that the GSA Africa Summit is an enabler of collaborative transformation – of Africa’s emerging startup nations, founders, and communities leveraging and amplifying Africa’s growing influence in the global community. “We were honoured to be hosted in Addis Ababa, signaling a significant milestone in this country’s entrepreneurial journey as they embark on the Next Ethiopian Startup Initiative to support and empower startups as a key driver in Ethiopia’s economy.”
“Ethiopia has big ambitions,” said Her Excellency Muferihat Kamil, Ethiopian Minister of Labour and Skills. “We believe it is our turn to shape tomorrow’s world. It is Africa’s turn to herald a new world, one that is more equitable, humanity-centered, and just. It will be all of us standing tall, and Africa standing tall, Africa assuming its rightful place in the world, Africa ceasing to be a synonym for poverty, social malaise, and hopelessness, and Africa becoming the new frontier for innovation and economic vitality.”
“As you go home, go home with Africa’s future on your shoulders, with Africa’s dream for salvation in your hearts,” she encouraged all startups.
His Excellency Dr Belete Getahun, Minister of Innovation and Technology, on the other hand, stated, “If African countries are to truly reap the benefits of their sizeable young population’s demographic dividends, it is critical to support entrepreneurship and startups with urgency and purpose.”
“We must use this platform to learn from other countries’ experiences and to share your vision of going global by fostering a local innovation ecosystem,” he noted.
“This is the building of a community of disrupters ready to make its mark on the global startup ecosystem. The world will soon feel your impact, from Lagos to Lilongwe, Cape Town to Cairo. You are the fearless makers and shakers. With you at the helm, steering us forward, there will be light ahead,” according to him.
“At last season’s grand finale in Copenhagen, two African startups were named global winners in March 2023.” “After competing against more than 120 companies from 115 countries, Ethiopian greentech startup Kubik was named ‘Startup of the Year,’ while Ugandan fintech startup Emata was named Best Newcomer,” according to a GSA Africa statement.
This season’s 16 African winners represent a wide range of startup categories, demonstrating the continent’s ability to establish human-needs-driven innovation at all levels of societal inclusion.
Startup of the Year: Hiryo (Egypt), a women’s safety and anti-harassment app that uses high-end tech like AI to support women, help them feel safer, and fight gender-based violence.
Best Newcomer: Awabah (Nigeria), a digital technology company focused on building wealth and providing financial sustainability to informal sector workers, secured this award.
Best Mobility and Logistics: BasiGo (Kenya), is a startup focused on creating the future of clean, electric public transport in Africa. The company’s Pay-As-You-Drive financing solutions make electric buses affordable to all bus owners in Nairobi.
Best Greentech: Coffee Resurrect (Ethiopia), the first Biotech company in Africa to create 100% natural personal care, nutraceutical, and food ingredients from coffee waste emerged triumphant in the. “GSA Africa will help us impact entrepreneurs across Africa and beyond, adds Almaw Molla, founder of and Chief Executive at Coffee Resurrect Inc. “It [will] help us to steadfastly adhere to a circular business model and continue to develop local solutions to address global challenges.”
Best Edtech: Dataleum (Nigeria), a tech training and consulting firm that has trained over 16,000 individuals on premium tech skills.
Diversity Role Model of the Year: Developers in Vogue (Ghana) won the prize for empowering a community of women to use tech for Africa and beyond.
Best HealthTech: Emergency Response Africa (Nigeria) is connecting individuals experiencing a medical emergency to deliver care in minutes using technology.
Founder of the Year: Freeziana.com (Egypt), an e-commerce website empowering women and marginalized handcraft makers, claimed this “coveted” award.
Ecosystem Hero: Hani W. Naguib is a leading Egyptian Business Designer and Innovation Consultant, bringing a decade of experience in preparing executives and entrepreneurs to become innovators.
VC of the Year: Mo Angels (Mauritius), the first syndicated angel investment group in Mauritius working in funding early-stage startups.
Best Web 3.0 Startup: Momint is a leading Web3 app in Africa, using blockchain to address Payment, Opportunity, and Identity with a focus on energy.
Best Agritech Startup: MooMe (Tunisia) is a startup that offers innovative software and hardware to monitor dairy farming production. “Hard work always pays off,” said Ahmed Ben Achballah, MooMe founder and Chief Executive. “We have been building MooMe step-by-step within a complicated sector and market. This recognition sheds light on a specific type of African Agritech Startup focus for dairy and livestock farming.”
Best Co-working Space: Tech Buzz Hub (Uganda) is a hub dedicated to creating inclusive workspaces with a mission to help young entrepreneurs fulfill their enterprise dreams and vision through coworking spaces, and providing facilities and infrastructure.
Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme: The American University in Cairo Venture Lab (Egypt), is Egypt’s first university-based startup accelerator for helping innovation-driven and passionate entrepreneurs build Egypt’s next generation of tech startups.
Best Commerce Tech: Zofi Cash (Uganda), a startup that is revolutionizing how salaried individuals access their wages. “Becoming a winner for the Global Startup Awards Africa feels like an incredible achievement for Zofi Cash and the clients and businesses we are working with”, said Zofi Cash founder and Chief Executive, Paul Kirungi. “Scoring this nomination showcases the great work we are doing in the fintech industry and validates our efforts to create a better financial future for everyone.”
Future Shaper Award: Zuri Health (Nigeria) is a virtual hospital platform that provides affordable and accessible healthcare services to patients across sub-Saharan Africa via a mobile app, website, WhatsApp bot, and SMS service.
“What stands out among the winners is that they are all solving real problems in a way that makes the world a better place,” said Kim Balle, founder of the Global Startup Awards (Denmark). “I have seen that African startups can go in and completely disrupt an industry.”
Moving forward, the African winners will participate in the global round, where they will compete on an international stage at the Global Startup Awards and gain further recognition and support.
Additionally, the winners of the GSA Africa competition have the exclusive opportunity to engage with the GIIG Africa Fund, a profit-and-purpose vehicle providing catalytic funding to enable African tech entrepreneurs to thrive in businesses that pioneer global solutions that meet the most pressing challenges of our time.
Additional main partners to the GSA Africa summit included UNICEF Ethiopia, UNDP Ethiopia, Grant Thornton Ethiopia, The Mayor’s Office Addis Ababa, The Development Bank Ethiopia, First Consult, Wesgro, ALX Ethiopia, and Loudhailer Global.
For more information about the GSA Africa winners and opportunities to get involved, visit, www.globalstartupawardsafrica.com
