Fifteen startups from South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe have been announced as winners of this year’s Southern Africa Startup Awards, one of five regional competitions within the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa.
The announcement took place at the launch edition of GITEX Africa 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco, late last week. GITEX Africa 2023 is the biggest gathering of innovation stakeholders on the continent, bringing together global leaders in the public, private and civil sectors to spur the adoption of next-gen technology in Africa.
South African startups secured 11 titles at this year’s Southern Africa competition. This includes the awards for Best Newcomer (BAOM Eco Solutions); Venture Capitalist of the Year (Digital Africa Ventures); Best Accelerator / Incubator Programme (WomHub); Diversity Role Model of the Year (NOOSi); Ecosystem Hero of the Year (Innovation City); Best Health-Tech Startup (LIQID Medical); Best Commerce-Tech Startup (Floatpays); Best Mobility & Logistics-Tech Startup: (Basket eCommerce); Best Green-Tech Startup (Mzansi Meat Co.); Best Ed-Tech Startup (FinMeUp); and Best Web3.0 Startup (MoMint).
Zimbabwe followed in second with two awards for Startup of the Year (Forestry & Citrus Research) and Best Co-Working Space (Tech Hub), while Mozambique and Namibia walked away with the awards for Best Agri-Tech Startup (Sustainable Planet) and Founder of the Year (Lynkwise) respectively.
These regional winners will now advance to the Continental Finals of the GSA Africa competition, where they will compete against their counterparts from Northern, Eastern, Western, and Central Africa. Startups crowned an African winner will then join the GSA Grand Finale where they will have the unique opportunity to showcase their solutions alongside some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and ecosystem enablers.
In addition to being named a regional winner, these startups now have the exclusive opportunity to engage with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the competition’s dedicated investment partner, through its GIIG Africa Fund. This is with support from the GIIG Africa Foundation, which connects startups to global partners and resources, to aid their development.
