African Startup Award 2022 Winners Prepare for Denmark Showdown as 2023

The winners of the African Startup Awards from 2022 are set to journey to Copenhagen, Denmark, in March for the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Grand Finale, where they will pitch their products to some of the world’s best companies, VCs, and ecosystem facilitators.

GSA Africa, the largest independent startup ecosystem competition on the continent, in a bid to uncover, support, and scale the most innovative businesses in Africa is also encouraging innovators who want to be a part of the upcoming delegation to apply for the 2022–2023 season.

This year’s competition is seeking innovations in a variety of fields, including agriculture, climate, commerce, education, healthcare, and mobility & logistics. Startups that support Web3 technologies, green innovation, and workplace diversity are especially encouraged to apply.

Along with this, there are additional prize categories for co-working spaces, groups that assist the ecosystem, investors, and people.

Additionally, the competition’s winners will be able to receive funding from the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG).

As the investment partner to the African Startup Awards, GIIG’s sole purpose is to fund the development of Sustainable Development Goal-aligned solutions on the continent and recently announced a slew of investments into last year’s regional and African winners, including Kubik, MyHealthAfrica, and ScarabTech, among others.

In addition to funding, the African winners are exposed to new opportunities for collaboration on an international scale, with winners, Scarabtech and Tekeya, recently invited to attend COP27, where they were announced as winners of Africa Grows Green Awards.

“Whatever your category, I highly recommend that you enter the African Startup Awards,” says Kidus Asfaw, Co-founder and CEO of Kubik, which was named the African winner in ESG Tech and Startup of the Year at last year’s competition.

“For us, it wasn’t just about the funding potential – it was important that we be a part of a pan-African ecosystem of innovators. Now, we’re excited to be representing the continent in Demark later this year for the Global Startup Awards Grand Finale – we’re excited for this opportunity to really put Kubik on the global map.”

Reflecting on the Awards and Summit, Jeffrey Barbee, Founder and CEO of ScarabTech – which was named a regional winner for Southern Africa – says: “It was a great opportunity to connect with impact-minded partners from all over Africa.

This environment of collaboration afforded the startups involved the opportunity to meet each other, learn about other amazing projects, and develop our networks across the continent. Making contact with businesses on a similar journey to us was a valuable exercise and is helping shape how our business can best succeed in the future.”

Adding to this, Jo Griffiths, Co-Founder of GSA Africa, says that: “The African Startup Awards is more than just a competition – it’s a community.

We’re building the largest network of innovation organisations, from the entrepreneurs working on the ground, to the investors and government organisations that support them, all committed to realising sustainable, inclusive, and impactful development across the African continent.

It is for this reason that – in addition to funding – we also strive to support all applicants with non-monetary forms of support, such as mentorship, training and networking.”