3 Nigerian startups clinch top awards at global stage

Nigerian startups continue to enhance their reputation as some of the most innovative and dynamic players in the continent’s startup ecosystem, after the region walked away with three top awards at the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa Summit recently held in Addis Ababa.

The GSA Africa in collaboration with the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Skills (MOLS), the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) with the support of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) Ethiopia, revealed the names of 16 overall African category winners.

At the awards ceremony held in the Ethiopian capital, three Nigerian startups were among the winners.

They include; Emergency Response Africa, Awabah Nigeria and Dataleum Limited.

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Emergency Response Africa’s critical initiative to connect individuals experiencing a medical emergency to deliver care in minutes using technology earned it the top prize in the HealthTech category.

CEO and co-founder Olufolakemi Owodunni was present to accept the award and credited her team for the hard work and commitment that saw the company make a significant impact on the GSA Africa stage.

Awabah Nigeria, a digital technology company, focused on building wealth and providing financial sustainability to informal sector workers scooped the Best Newcomer award. Awabah CEO, Tunji Andrews, while speaking on the award said “I was blown away by the organization of what is a truly Pan-African celebration of entrepreneurship.

On its part, Nigerian startup Dataleum Limited, a tech training and consulting firm, took the Best Edtech category for the sterling work it has done training over 16,000 individuals on premium tech skills.

Dataleum Limited CEO and Co-founder, Bode Roberts, while speaking on the award said, “We take this as a call to do more.”

This year’s three Nigerian winners competed against 1,780 entrants from Western Africa region and were among more than 8,200 GSA Africa entrants overall.