Innovation for Impact: Unveiling the Pioneering Companies Shortlisted in the Africa Tech Festival Awards
In an era of transformative technological advancements, innovation stands as the catalyst for change, and Africa is at the forefront of this revolution.
The Africa Tech Festival Awards proudly present the Innovation for Impact Award, a testament to the groundbreaking work of industry leaders who are harnessing the power of innovation to disrupt traditional approaches, introduce novel solutions, and create tangible value for businesses and individuals across the continent.
Today, we shine a spotlight on the five exceptional companies shortlisted for this prestigious accolade, each of whom has made remarkable strides in the pursuit of innovation with a lasting impact.
MTN Uganda
MTN Webphone with webex connects formerly excluded communities within and out of Uganda, affordably. It is a calling and collaboration application that is powering communication and multimedia collaboration for traders, small businesses, foreign students, foreign communities, Ugandan diaspora and migrant workers from Uganda.
The solution is inclusive by offering affordable local call rates from the app to back home. The receivers can receive and make calls back from a feature phone, they do not need a smartphone compared to other OTT solutions like WhatsApp.
This is impactful as smartphone penetration and utilisation in Uganda is hindered by cost of phones, data and irregular electricity supply.
Safaricom
The majority of Kenyan citizens work in the informal sector encompassing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with limited access to credit, leading to relatively low adoption of innovative technologies and management practices that account for their diverse needs.
To address this, the Government of Kenya came up with a low-cost Government to Citizen (G2C) credit and savings product dubbed the 'Hustler Fund'.
The team successfully implemented the solution within 6 weeks; the resilient architecture ensured zero major downtimes since inception processing over 60 million transactions. The product made history in its first 10 days by attracting 14 million customer sign-ups and a total disbursement of 7 billion.
So far, the product has disbursed over KES 40 billion to more than 19 million citizens in a six-month period, with over 7 million customers returning as repeat borrowers and a saved amount of at least KES 1.6 billion.
The impact of this achievement cannot be overstated, as it has empowered individuals and businesses at the lower level of the pyramid, providing them with the financial resources necessary for growth and prosperity.
Vodacom
Vodacom co-developed virtual wheeling, an innovative solution which allows private sector participation to sustainably help solve the energy crisis in South Africa.
The solution makes use of platform technology developed by a Vodacom subsidiary, Mezzanine, to allow buyers (off-takers or electrical loads) to consolidate and match consumption of multiple sites (facilities/operations/plants), geographically spread across the country with generation by one or multiple renewable independent power producers who contribute the power to the national grid.
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The solution helps solve a major societal problem while contributing renewable power which is aligned with Vodacom's objectives to source 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by April 2026.
The solution will become a blueprint for other private sector companies to adopt which, if done at scale, could solve load shedding permanently in South Africa.
Orange
Orange designed the KYC Chatbot on WhatsApp to automate the ID card updating process for both their Telco and Orange Money customers.
Orange's solution based on optical character recognition and robotic process automation enables high simultaneous processing capacity in order to enhance the customer experience and ensure regulatory compliance.
WIOCC Group
WIOCC Group's unique converged open digital infrastructure offering is transforming the digitisation of Africa, making digital products and services available to previously underserved businesses and individuals and providing an enabling environment that can underpin further global investment in Africa.
Shape the Future: Cast Your Vote for Innovation in Africa
As we applaud the ingenuity and transformative power of these industry giants, we invite you to be a part of this celebration of innovation.
Your voice holds the key to determining which of these exceptional companies will secure a spot as a finalist. In this public voting stage, your support can propel one of these innovators closer to victory.
The top three companies with the most votes will advance to face an expert panel of judges, who will ultimately crown the winner at our exclusive awards gala.
Embrace the spirit of innovation and cast your vote today to help shape the future of technology and impact in Africa. Together, let's celebrate these remarkable companies and their commitment to driving positive change on the continent.
And if you're interested in booking a seat or a table at the awards ceremony, please get in touch with jessica.roque@informa.com to enquire!
And of course, don't forget to register for Africa Tech Festival, the continent's largest and most influential tech event, to join us this November!