The Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa has recently announced the Western African Regional winners for the 2022/23 competition. The announcement was made during the launch edition of GITEX Africa 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco.
The winners consist of fourteen startups from different African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Senegal, and Benin.
Nigerian startups secured the highest number of the winners with six awards, including Best Newcomer, Startup of the Year, Best Agri-Tech Startup, Best Health-Tech Startup, Best Ed-Tech Startup, and Best Web 3.0 Startup.
Ghana followed with three awards which are: Best Incubator / Accelerator Programme; Diversity Role Model of the Year; and Ecosystem Hero of the Year. The remaining countries each secured one title in categories such as Founder of the Year, Best Co-Working Space, Best Commerce-Tech Startup, Best Green-Tech Startup, and Best Mobility & Logistics-Tech Startup.
The Global Startup Awards Africa is the largest independent startup competition in Africa and serves as a platform for the Global Impact Investment Group (GIIG) to discover, finance, and nurture groundbreaking startups in the continent.
The GIIG Africa Fund strategically invests in transformative technologies, aiming to expedite sustainable development and facilitate growth on a global scale.
The 2023 edition of the competition received an impressive 8,272 entries from all 54 African states, and 71 regional winners emerged, representing various African countries and industries such as agriculture, climate change, commerce, education, healthcare, and mobility & logistics. The competition aims to showcase startups focusing on Web 3.0 technologies, sustainable business models, green innovation, and workplace diversity.
The regional winners will proceed to the Continental Finals of the GSA Africa competition, where they will compete against startups from other African regions. The African winner from this phase will have the opportunity to participate in the GSA Grand Finale, showcasing their solutions alongside entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and ecosystem enablers from around the world.
Earlier this year, two African startups, Kubik from Ethiopia and Emata from Uganda, achieved recognition as Global Winners during the Grand Finale event held in Copenhagen. Kubik was named the ‘Startup of the Year,’ while Emata was hailed as the ‘Best Newcomer.’ These startups, along with the recently announced regional winners, exemplify Africa’s potential as a tech continent with innovative solutions to address pressing challenges.
The GSA Africa and GIIG co-founders expressed excitement about the quality and diversity of the winning solutions and emphasized the aim of building global bridges to maximize the impact of these startups. The competition serves as a launch pad for the startups’ global ambitions, providing them with opportunities to expand their reach and make significant contributions to communities and markets worldwide.
Winners summary
- Best Newcomer – Awabah (Nigeria)
- Startup of the Year – Salubata (Nigeria)
- Best Agri-Tech Startup – Crop2Cash (Nigeria)
- Best Health-Tech Startup – Emergency Response Africa (Nigeria)
- Best Ed-Tech Startup – Dataleum Limited (Nigeria)
- Best Web 3.0 Startup – Xend Finance
- Best Incubator / Accelerator Programme – 2Scale (Ghana)
- Diversity Role Model of the Year – Developers in Vogue (Ghana)
- Ecosystem Hero of the Year – Demasko Farms (Ghana)
- Founder of the Year – MyWatchman (Liberia)
- Best Co-Working Space – Impact Hub Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire)
- Best Commerce-Tech Startup – Taybull Soft Ltd. (Gambia)
- Best Green-Tech Startup – SNTECH-Afrique (Senegal)
- Best Mobility & Logistics-Tech Startup – Zed Motors (Benin Republic).
