Two African early-stage companies came out tops at the grand finale of the world’s biggest independent competition for startups.
The rise of the African techpreneur on the global stage was evident in the announcement of the overall winners of the 2022 Global Startups Awards (GSA), considered the world’s gold standard for startups.
Two of these, Kubik and Emata, were recognised for their world-class skills and innovation at the GSA’s gala event.
Kubik, last year’s GSA Africa ‘Startup of the Year’ and winner of the ‘ESG Tech’ category, took first place in the GSA’s Startup of the Year category. The environmental technology company from Ethiopia turns plastic waste into low-carbon, low-cost buildings. Their environmentally friendly alternative building materials are designed to interlock, thereby circumventing the need for costly and polluting materials.
Emata was announced the Best Newcomer. By providing them with affordable digital loans, the Ugandan fintech company is revolutionising how smallholder farmers access financing. Not only has this startup automated the entire loan process from data collection and credit scoring to loan disbursement, they also cater for small and remote farmers by offering loans as small as UGX 60 000 ($15).