Global Startup Awards (GSA) Continues to Expand Throughout Africa

The Global Startup Awards (GSA) is an awards platform that aims to find and connect global “future shapers of the digital age” and it has continued its expansion across the African continent, having now expanded into South, North, East, and West African territories.

Expanding into more African territories will give entrepreneurs access to an international, independent, and established platforms. The GSA expansion will include all 54 African countries. 

According to Péter Kovács, GSA Founding Partner, the expansion will support and honour players in more than 100 countries in ten different regions.

“This expansion is critical as the Awards were born from a vision to overcome borders for collaboration,” said Kovács.

The expansion of GSA was led by an engagement agency dedicated to connecting tech stars, Loudhailer. 

Caitlin Nash, co-founder and partner of Loudhailer, stated that Africa is the fastest-growing market and has been “earmarked” as the “tech continent of the future.”

“Africa is home to “frugal innovation” – a continent innovating out of necessity, not profit – in a way unparalleled to developed economies. This ability to pioneer affordable and sustainable solutions in a way that is cheaper, more flexible, and more inclusive is exactly what all the world needs right now to tackle the huge problems of energy, health, and climate change,” said Nash.

Jo Griffiths, co-founder and partner of Loudhalier, stated that they aim to ensure that African tech startups “get noticed, get funded, and get supported to scale faster – enabling world-changing technologies.”

Call for applications to join GSA Africa

The GSA has opened applications for those interested in joining Africa’s entrepreneurial environment. The applications are open to private collaborators, ecosystem builders, government entities, and innovation leaders.

The applicants can join for the following positions:

• Project Managers
• African Advisory Board
• Digital Coordinators
• Sponsors
• Ambassadors
• Researchers
• Country Managers

Applicants can find further information about these positions here. 

GSA expansion in Southern Africa

This additional expansion follows the 2018 expansion into the Southern region of Africa. Since then, the GSA has focused on tech entrepreneurs and foreign investment in African tech startups.

According to the Partech Africa Annual Reports conducted in 2019, the investments in African tech startups have grown to more than $2-billion. This was an overall excess increase of 567% since 2016.

McKevin Ayaba, a co-founder of the Southern Africa Awards, explains that this expansion, which began three years ago, has positively contributed to the startup ecosystem. 

“A vision that started three years ago has now become a continent-wide celebration of innovation. The purpose of the Awards is to build regional connectivity and global visibility. With Loudhailer at the helm, we’re celebrating Africa and putting African startups, the people behind them, and the organisations that work alongside these visionaries on the map. I couldn’t be more excited,” said Ayaba.

The 2019 Southern Africa Startup Awards

In 2019, there were several winners of the Southern Africa Startup Awards (SASA) from a range of different categories. These winners included the transport tech startup based in Cape Town and Johannesburg Lula which won the “Startup of the Year” award.

The YouFarm won the Best Food/AgriTech Startup Award in 2019. The YouFarm startup is a crowd farming platform that aims to be a safe and profitable investment for those who want to work in the agriculture sector through crowd farming.