Africa’s startups shine at ITU Telecom World Entrepreneurship Awards 2015

The ITU Telecom World 2015 closed its doors yesterday with an event that saw the much-awaited announcement of the winners of the ITU Telecom World Entrepreneurship Awards 2015.

In keeping with ITU Telecom World’s focus on fostering ICT-based SMEs and digital entrepreneurship, this year’s event introduced these awards, recognizing the most innovative and promising SMEs and initiatives using ICTs for social impact.

Three awards were presented: the People’s Choice Award, as voted by event participants via the Event App; the National Award celebrating Hungarian innovation and ingenuity; and the ITU Telecom World Entrepreneurship Award for the best SMEs and initiatives exhibiting at the Event as selected by an expert jury.

This year’s award winners were:

People’s Choice Award

SonicTier Inc.

National Award

Codie Labs

Shiwaforce.com

Exuberant Group

ITU Telecom World Entrepreneurship Award

Dot Incorporation

IRIENCE

M-Shamba

Practech LLC

Totohealth

Speaking on winning the ITU Telecom World Entrepreneurship Award, Khalid Al Nasser, Founder & CEO, Practech said: “It gives us a sense of validation, knowing how to benchmark yourself, knowing how we can build on what happens after. It is great for us and our team as well so we know that we are on the right track. This is important for us, we are open to new ideas and opinions and seeing that being validated is huge.”

A recognition of excellence was awarded to the very best of the SMEs and Pavilions exhibiting at the event:

Federal Authority for Information and Communication Technologies (AFTIC), Argentina Pavilion

Bethclip, Azerbaijan Pavilion

Aliyun Computing Co. Ltd, China Pavilion

Iroley Smart City, Djibouti Pavilion

Logiscool, Hungary Pavilion

GyanSetu – Centre for Development of Telematics, India Pavilion

Japan Battery Regeneration, Inc, Japan Pavilion

Toto Health, Kenya Pavilion

Irience, Korea Pavilion

Padoko Technologies, Malawi Pavilion

Cooltoon Ltd, Rwanda Pavilion

The Centennial Fund, Saudi Arabia Pavilion

Jokko$ante, Senegal Pavilion

Carl TV project /DBTI, Tanzania Pavilion

Jaguza Livestock App, Uganda Pavilion

The awards were presented at the event’s closing ceremony in the presence of H.E. Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, H.E. István Mikola, Minister of State for Security Policy and International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and H.E. Mr. Ákos Kara, Minister of State for Info-communication and Consumer Protection of the Ministry of National Development.

ITU Telecom World 20 which welcomed over 4,000 participants from 129 countries this week, brought together an impressive line-up of top-level government representatives, leaders of industry – from established players to SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and young start-ups, from emerging and developed markets – along with high-level representatives of international organizations, entrepreneurs, accelerators, incubators and academia. Among these were over 235 ICT leaders from around the world.

The exhibition included big names, countries and SMEs from across the world. Some 50 countries, regions and their SMEs were represented including Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Iran, Indonesia, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Macedonia, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA, and Zimbabwe. Gabon, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda came together within the Smart Africa zone on the show floor.

Top global exhibitors and sponsors participating included Airtel, Alibaba, ATDI, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Ericsson, Etisalat Nigeria, GEW Technologies, Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, KT, LS telcom, Magyar Telekom, Microwave Vision Group, Rohde and Schwarz, Sonatel-Orange, TDIA, UPC and ZTE.