Eleven African Startups win at Africa Tech Festival.

For the 15th year, Africa Tech Festival (formerly AfricaCom) has awarded brilliant startups that are changing the game in the African tech ecosystem, spotlighting industry players and solutions that are contributing to the digital revolution sweeping across the continent. 

Africa might still be in its day one with respect to technology, but many minds on the continent are concerted in their efforts to make day 100 a reality, and spotlighting them is a good way to boost continent-wide morale. 

The one-week event was held in Capetown, South Africa.

Let’s meet the eleven

• 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.

• 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.

• Dr Olufunso Somorin, Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank, won the Green ICT champion category.

• 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 "recognise the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, and CDOs".

• Oladiwura Oladepo, Tech4Dev’s co-founder, 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.

• Hormuud Telecom received the Award for Changing Lives, recognising the humanitarian portal built by the firm.

Source: techcabal.com