Digital Lab Africa announces winners of its pitch competition

African digital content springboard and incubation platform Digital Lab Africa (DLA) has announced the 10 winning projects of its pitch competition and accelerator programme.

DLA was initiated by the French Embassy and the French Institute in South Africa and is managed by Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct with support from the French Development Agency (AFD).

The 10 projects were selected from among 500 applications made from over 30 sub-Saharan Africa countries.

The 10 DLA pitch competition winners will each receive R42 000 in cash

In a statement today (2 May), DLA said the 10 stood out in the selection committee interviews based on their talent, creativity and ability to motivate their ideas.

The winners hail from Ghana, Kenya, Mali, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They are:

Animation

Ringa Mzansi by Lwazu Msipha (South Africa)
Uzi by by Naddya Adhiambo Oluoch-Olunya (Kenya)

Web Creation

Cartographie Des Régions Musicales Du Mali by Tiécoura N’Daou (Mali)
Re/member Your Descendants by Xabiso Vili (South Africa)

Digital Music

Swaggify by Marvin Madyara (Zimbabwe)
Sunkambe by Shaka Ramulifho (South Africa)

Virtual Reality

Trvlr by Komborerai Chapfika (Zimbabwe)
The Afrocyborg VR Film Collective by Shmerah Passchier and The Afrocyborg Collective (South Africa)

Video Game

Mancala Plus by Setriakor Nyomi (Ghana)
Precious Cargo by Simone Beneke-Graham, Shannon Bennetts, Rowan Brough & Niall Graham (South Africa)

Kenyan Justus Macharia was also named as the winner of the DLA Audience Award for his project titled BABA. He will receive an invitation to one of the DLA industry events in France and around Africa.

The other winners will each receive a R42 000 cash prize and a tailor-made incubation programme to accelerate their project development.

This includes mentorship by creative industry experts from France and around the continent, a residence period within a digital hub or cluster in France and access to industry events in France and in Africa.

Read more: AFD to invest R14.5m in Tshimologong’s new Digital Content Hub