Africa Tech Festival (formerly known as AfricaCom) has honored outstanding companies that are revolutionizing the African tech sector for the past 15 years. The event also shines a spotlight on the key people and products that are advancing the digital revolution that’s also engulfing the continent.
“As life moved online, our job of connecting the continent’s innovators and change-makers evolved to ensure you could continue doing what you do best—delivering on the promise of a better, more inclusive digital Africa.” African Tech Festival’s website states as much.
The Africa Tech Festival, held last week at the Cape Town International Convention Center, garnered over 20,000 tech enthusiasts. The three-day exhibition gave both established companies and start-ups a chance to display their most recent technological innovations.
Here are the eleven start-ups that won at the festival.
- Kyanda Africa as Fintech Innovation of the Year: Kenyan one-stop-shop startup whose solutions include payment services, utility services, insurance provision, money transfer services, and fintech APIs bagged the fintech innovation of the year award.
- Womenovate as the Startup of the Year: Womenovate, a female-focused edtech product, helps women to grow in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and mathematics) disciplines and career opportunities.
- Nextwear Technologies as Healthtech Innovation of the Year: This Nigerian startup builds wearable technology such as bras that detect breast cancer in its early stages. This award was introduced in 2022.
- Meridiam as VC / Investor of the Year: Meridiam is a pan-African VC with large-scale impact investments across the continent, including four solar power plants in Senegal, a geothermal power plant in Ethiopia, a hydropower plant in Gabon, a biomass site in Côte d’Ivoire, and solar home systems in West Africa.
- Nuran Wireless won the Connectivity Project of the Year, for its contributions towards ensuring connectivity in environments with high demands.
- Samuel Chiwanda, CEO of Malawi’s Click Mobile won the CXO of the Year award, usually given to “recognize the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, and CDOs”.
- Oladiwura Oladepo, co-founder and executive director at Tech4Dev, won the Female Innovator of the Year award.
- Orange’s Mahali mobile app won the Most Innovative Product/Service award for its target market, with new opportunities for growth.
- Joseph Lumbahe, lead engineer Computer Vision at Aizatron Group, received the African Rising Star award.
- Dr Olufunso Somorin, Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank, won the Green ICT champion category.
- Hormuud Telecom received the Award for Changing Lives, recognizing the humanitarian portal built by the firm.
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