Entries open for fifth annual AppsAfrica Innovation Awards

Entries are now open for the sixth annual AppsAfrica Innovation Awards which aim to showcase the continent’s most innovative mobile and tech ventures.

The awards are open to corporates, established ventures or start-ups who have launched services in at least one African market.

Winners of the awards will be invited to Africa Tech Summit Kigali 2021 where they will join over 400 tech leaders from across the continent.

Applications close on 20 October. A shortlist will be announced on 1 November and the winners will be announced 26 November.

The AppsAfrica Innovation Awards aim to celebrate the best in mobile and tech in Africa

Startups entries are free and entrants must contact the organisers for a discount code. Corporate entries cost $50 per category entered.

The awards are open to corporates, established ventures or startups who have launched their tech services in at least one African market across 14 categories.

These categories are:

• Disruptive Innovation Award: Seeks to recognise the disruptive innovations and new business models that are changing Africa. Entries are open across all sectors.
• Health Tech Award: Celebrates the use of technology to improve health services in Africa. Entries may include a new service, device, software, hardware or use of apps, SMS, interactive voice response (IVR) or social media.
• Best African App Award: Recognises the best applications successfully launched on any platform to target African consumers or businesses. Entries are welcome across all sectors and platforms.
• Cyber Security Award: This award celebrates companies that have successfully implemented ground-breaking security services protecting data, workloads and systems for individuals and organizations across the continent.
• Blockchain Award: Recognises initiatives that are utilising blockchain technology to increase the speed, efficiency, accuracy, transparency or cost-effectiveness of any sector in Africa.
• Media and Entertainment Award: Seeks to recognise the best news and entertainment innovations. Examples include music, literary, gaming, children’s entertainment, lifestyle and video.
• Education Award: Recognises services which are striving to improve education by utilising mobile or other technologies.
• Fintech Solution Award: This award recognises the best fintech innovation including digital currency, bitcoin, mobile money, wallets, P2P, money remittances and transfers, point of sale or funding platforms.
• Agri and Foodtech Award: Aimed at the best tech innovations driving agriculture across the continent. This includes but is not limited to hardware, software, drones, big data, IoT services, mobile services or any technology supporting farmers, improving yields or supply chains in Africa.
• eCommerce Award: This award is dedicated to celebrating the wave of online and mobile commerce initiatives booming across Africa. Entrants might include online platforms, retail brands, portals, apps, classifieds, comparison sites and many more driving eCommerce across Africa.
• Mobility Award: This award seeks to recognise the leading ventures using technology such as hardware, software, robotics, drones or innovative mobile services that improve mobility, logistics or supply chains in an African market.
• Social Impact Award: Recognises an inspiring use of technology that has a positive social impact for an African community while contributing to economic and social development.

Criteria

A team of expert judges — selected based on their knowledge, influence and contribution to the improvement of technology in Africa — will assess submissions.

To be considered for the awards, applicants must:

• Be a startup or incorporated companies
• Have launched a product or service in at least one African market
• Have launched their service or product at the time of judging
• Address specific African needs as detailed within their specific category
• Have any product or service utilising any technology
• Have launched the entry in at least one African market to date
• Have specific applications which are relevant to the category entered

Read more: Here’s who won at the 2019 AppsAfrica Innovation Awards

Featured image: AppsAfrica via Facebook