FloodGates Limited, a Ghanaian technology business, has won the Tech4Democracy Venture Day Africa Competition in Cape Town, South Africa. FloodGates Ltd won the tournament, which was held recently, by defeating four other African finalists.
From a group of five firms who emerged as finalists from over 200 African startups, FloodGates Limited, who emerged winner, received the award for the Best Democracy-affirming startup on the African continent.
All the finalists will receive coaching from business and technical professionals, free productivity software, up to $150,000 in Microsoft cloud credits, and access to GitHub Enterprise.
‘We are super grateful to @NyashaMpani for representing us in Cape Town and receiving the award on our behalf. ”Congrats to all the other finalists and startups building a better Africa. Super proud of the FloodGates Team,” FloodGates founder, Oswald Wedam, said in a Twitter post.
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FloodGates representing Africa in the Global contest
FloodGates will represent Africa at the international finals in Washington, DC. USA. Tech4Democracy is a global initiative by the US Department of State, IE University, and Microsoft aimed at identifying entrepreneurs developing innovative digital technologies that contribute to the advancement of democracy around the world.
The Challenge is composed of five Venture Day competitions in five continents: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and South America. Entrepreneurs will be evaluated based on their contribution to democratic values, technological innovation, viability/scalability and interest for potential investors, and the experience, knowledge, skills, and diversity of their teams.
The initiative is a long-term line of applied research that will map the state of the art of the field of democracy-affirming technologies and guide policymakers, industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs who wish to advance technological progress in a manner that promotes freedom, equality, solidarity and inclusion.
Tech4democracy global competitions
Tech4democracy has held five competitions across the globe. The first completion was held in Madrid for Europe. It was held at IE Tower on June 28, 2022, with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as the keynote speaker. The winner of the competition was Citibeats (Spain).
The second was held in Bogota for South America. It was held at Universidad de los Andes on October 10, 2022, with Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin as the keynote speaker. The winner of the competition was Evoting (Chile).
The third was held in Silicon valley for North America. It was held at Stanford University on November 29, 2022, with USAID Administrator Samantha Power as the keynote speaker. The winner of the competition was Atlos (United States).
The fourth competition of Tech4Democracy’s Global Entrepreneurship Challenge unveiled the best democracy start-up in the Asia-Pacific. The Venture Day took place at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi on March 2, 2023, in conjunction with Raisina Dialogue. The winner of the competition was Right2Vote (India).
The Africa Venture day was the last continental competition of Tech4Democracy’s Global Entrepreneurship Challenge. It took place at the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) on March 7, 2023. The winner of the competition was FloodGates Limited (Ghana) for their solution Trustur.