Fourteen startups from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Senegal, and Benin have been announced as Western Regional winners of the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa 2022/23, the largest independent startup ecosystem competition on the continent.
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.
Driving The News
Nigerian startups secured six titles at this year’s Western Africa competition.
- Best Newcomer – Awabah
- Startup of the Year – Salubata
- Best Agri-Tech Startup – Crop2Cash
- Best Health-Tech Startup – Emergency Response Africa
- Best Ed-Tech Startup – Dataleum Limited
- Best Web3.0 Startup – Xend Finance
Ghana secured three awards:
- Best Incubator / Accelerator Programme (2Scale)
- Diversity Role Model of the Year (Developers in Vogue)
- Ecosystem Hero of the Year (Demasko Farms)
Awards were also given to startups from Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Senegal and Benin, which earned the titles of Founder of the Year (MyWatchman), Best Co-Working Space (Impact Hub Abidjan), Best Commerce-Tech Startup (Taybull Soft Ltd.), Best Green-Tech Startup (SNTECH-Afrique), and Best Mobility & Logistics-Tech Startup (Zed Motors) respectively.
What Happens Next
These regional winners will now advance to the Continental Finals of the GSA Africa competition, where they will compete against their counterparts from Northern, Southern, Eastern, 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.
African winners will also have the exclusive opportunity to engage with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the competition’s dedicated investment partner. Through its GIIG Africa Fund and the GIIG Africa Foundation, the organisation aims to find, fund, and grow African solutions to globally relevant challenges.
What They’re Saying
Announcing the regional winners at GITEX Africa was GSA Africa and GIIG co-founder, Caitlin Nash, who remarked that: “These winners represent the top startups in both their home country and region – and it’s all the more significant that we announce them here in Morocco. This competition is all about building global bridges between our continent’s most exceptional solutions and the people, markets and communities where they can make the most significant impact.
In that vein, this event has been the ideal launch pad for these startup’s global ambitions, and we’re excited to help take them to the world.”
For a list of this year’s regional winners: https://western.africanstartupawards.com/
