Sixteen startups from across the continent have been named winners of the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa.
The GSA Africa Awards, operated in collaboration with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Skills (MOLS), the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) and the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) Ethiopia, began in 2021, a journey that has led to over 15,000 African innovators nominated from 54 countries, support of 300 jury members, ambassadors, and hundreds of innovation hubs across the continent.
The 16 African winners span diverse categories in the startup ecosystem, with Startup of the Year going to Egypt’s Hiryo, 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 was Nigeria’s Awabah, a digital technology company focused on building wealth and providing financial sustainability to informal sector workers. BasiGo (Kenya) won Best Mobility & Logistics, Best Greentech went to Ethiopia’s Coffee Resurrect, and Best Ed-Tech to Nigeria’s Dataleum.
The Diversity Role Model of the Year award went to Ghana’s Developers in Vogue, Best HealthTech to Nigeria’s Emergency Response Africa, and Founder of the Year to Egypt’s Freeziana.com.
Ecosystem Hero was Hani W. Naguib, a leading Egyptian business designer and innovation consultant, while VC of the Year was Mo Angels from Mauritius. Best Web 3.0 Startup went to Momint, and Best Agritech Startup to Tunisia’s MooMe.
Best Co-working Space was Tech Buzz Hub (Uganda), Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme was The American University in Cairo Venture Lab (Egypt), and Best Commerce Tech was Zofi Cash (Uganda). Future Shaper Award went to Zuri Health (Nigeria).
“The Global Startup Awards Africa aims 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. It provides a common language for us all, fostering understanding and connection, and providing a platform to implement a shared vision of scaled impact,” said Jo Griffiths, co-founder of the GSA Africa and GIIG.
