The Global Startup Awards Africa named the 16 category winners at the GSA Africa Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Nigerian startups were the biggest winners, winning four categories out of 16.
Four Nigerian startups were recognised at the Global Startup Awards Africa, Addis Ababa, gaining a chance to compete internationally to gain further recognition and funding.
Awabah, a financial services startup serving Nigeria’s informal sector, was named ‘Best Newcomer,’ while tech training and consulting firm Dataleum emerged as ‘Best Edtech.’ The two other winners from Nigeria are the virtual hospital platform Zuri Health (Future Shaper Award) and Emergency Response Africa, a healthcare technology company that provides medical care to victims at the emergency scene (Best HealthTech).
The GSA Africa awards began in 2021, with 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. This year’s edition was held in collaboration with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Skills (MOLS), and the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) with the support of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) Ethiopia.
A total of 16 winners across different categories of the startup ecosystem were announced by the organisers. GSA Africa claims to be the largest independent startup ecosystem competition on the continent. 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. In March 2023, two African startups were named global winners at last season’s grand finale in Copenhagen. Competing against more than 120 companies from 115 countries, Ethiopian greentech startup Kubik was recognised as ‘Startup of the Year,’ while the Ugandan fintech startup Emata was proclaimed ‘Best Newcomer.’
Other winners of this year’s GSA Africa awards include Egyptian women’s safety and anti-harassment app Hiryo (Startup of the Year), Kenya’s BasiGo (Best Mobility and Logistics), Ethiopian biotech company Coffee Resurrect (Best Greentech), Ghana’s Developers in Vogue (Diversity Role Model of the Year), and Egyptian e-commerce website Freeziana.com (Founder of the Year).
Egyptian business designer and innovation consultant Hani W. Naguib was named Ecosystem Hero, while Mauritius’ first syndicated angel investment group, Mo Angels, was the VC of the Year. South African Web3 investment platform Momint won Best Web 3.0 Startup, and the Tunisian agritech startup that helps monitor dairy farming production MooMe, won Best Agritech Startup.
Uganda’s Tech Buzz Hub was named Best Co-working Space), Egypt’s first university-based startup accelerator, the American University in Cairo Venture Lab won Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme and Zofi Cash, a Ugandan startup that is revolutionising how salaried individuals access their wages was named Best Commerce Tech.
