10 November 2022

Winners of the 15th Africa Tech Festival Awards (formerly AfricaCom Awards) were announced in Cape Town on Wednesday night as the second day of Africa Tech Festival welcomed yet another record attendance.

“It has been refreshing and energising being back in face-to-face contact with the technology and telecoms community again,” said Hans Geldenhuys, Director, Intelsat Africa. “There has been significant advancement in all things digital across the world and nowhere is that more prominent than in Africa. The awards tonight acknowledge this and those who are at the pinnacle of innovation in the industry. Congratulations to them and to all who were part of the proceedings.”

Agreeing with this perspective, James Williams Event Director, at Informa Tech, organisers of Africa Tech Festival, said “the technology and telecoms industry never sleep. There is always something happening, and perennial innovation, all of which is necessary in the march towards a digitally inclusive global society. Selecting winners from the many entries we receive in each of the categories, is always a difficult task, and I am glad I do not need to this alone but can rely on a panel of experts to make those determinations. This is especially true of this year, where we had more than 13,000 public votes, expanded categories and more entries than we have had before. I too, congratulate all who were nominated. Your efforts are making the difference this continent needs.”

The winners of the 2022 Africa tech Festival Awards are:

• Start-Up of the Year: Womenovate - a female focused online learning platform, based in Nigeria, offering women in STEAM access to resources, training courses and jobs from world-class universities and companies, helping to close the gender gap/disparity and increase female participation in STEAM fields and sectors.
• HealthTech Innovation of the Year: Nextwear Technologies - the very first wearable technology start-up in Nigeria, and inventor of a smart bra that can detect breast cancer in its earliest stages.
• VC / Investor of the Year Award: Meridiam – an asset and fund manager invested into African infrastructure, including 4 solar power plants in Senegal, a geothermal power plant in Ethiopia, a hydropower plan in Gabon, a biomass site in Cote d'Ivoire, and solar home systems in West Africa. It has now invested into helping build and develop over 12 tier III carrier-neutral data centres across the African continent.
• Fintech Innovation of the Year: Kyanda Africa.
• Green ICT Champion: Olufunso Somorin, regional principal officer at the African Development Bank.
• Connectivity Project of the Year: NuRAN Wireless.
• CXO of the Year: Samuel Chiwanda, Click Mobile Malawi
• Female Innovator of the Year: Oladiwura Oladepo is the co-founder and executive director at Tech4Dev
• Most Innovative Product or Service: Orange's Mahali mobile application
• Africa’s Rising Star: Joseph Lumbahe, lead engineer, computer vision at Aizatron Group and a contracted (via Aizatron) Fraud Detection Engineer at MTN South Africa.
• Changing Lives Award: Hormuud Telecom – humanitarian portal (Somalia)