UNICEF Ethiopia has been welcomed as a sponsor and strategic partner for the next 2022/23 Global Startup Awards Africa Summit by the Global Innovation Initiative Group (GIIG), which is the official rights holder to the Global Startup Awards (GSA) Africa.
It is planned that the event will take place at the Ethiopia Arts and Science Museum in Addis Ababa from the 26th through the 28th of October.
The first-ever Global Startup Awards Africa Summit, the 2021/22 season awards, took place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in South Africa. It got support from organisations such as WESGRO and South African Tourism.
The 2022/23 season awards, the GSA Africa Summit, is made possible through a collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Skills (MOLS), Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT), and with the support of the Ethiopia Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI).
GSA Africa is the first and only competition of its kind on the continent to search for technological innovation throughout all 55 African nations. It is also associated with the aims of sustainable development. Conversations at this year’s Summit will centre on the process of developing innovative nations and economies that are founded on innovation through the perspective of youth capabilities and collaborations that span international borders.
The climax of the event, a gala dinner and awards ceremony, will take place on October 27. There will be 15 winners honoured for developing solutions that address important global concerns. These lucky individuals will have the chance to work closely with the GIIG Africa Fund in an exclusive capacity.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is active in 52 nations across Africa and aims to defend the rights of every child living in those countries. In Ethiopia, UNICEF works in close partnership with the government to empower children and women to survive, flourish, and reach their full potential in the areas of health, nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), child protection, education, and social policy. These are the areas in which UNICEF focuses its efforts to empower children and women.
Through its partnership with the GSA Africa Innovation Award, UNICEF Ethiopia demonstrates its commitment to digital transformation, which promotes higher quality of life and equal rights. This cooperation reflects the common goal of both organisations and is an integral component of GIIG’s mission to discover, fund, and cultivate innovation in Africa that is important on a global scale.
Read also: UNICEF’s Ghana Startup Lab is now accepting applications
Remarks from UNICEF and GIIG executives
Dr. Aboubacar Kampo, UNICEF Country Representative in Ethiopia sais: “Our involvement in the GSA Africa Summit is an excellent opportunity to promote local innovative solutions in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa that will improve the lives of women and children.”
“By investing in young innovators and startups, we are investing in the future generation. An estimated 41 per cent of Ethiopia’s population is under the age of 15. Encouraging young people to think outside the box on how to improve the wellbeing of families through innovation is also an opportunity for UNICEF to embed these new solutions into our programming which can only benefit the nation.”
“In collaboration with UNICEF Ethiopia, the Summit’s discussions will offer a targeted perspective on leveraging innovation to address urgent challenges, improve quality of life, and set a course for sustainable progress for both present and future generations,” says Jo Griffiths, GIIG co-founder.
“As we advocate innovation, it’s important to remember that its core purpose is not only technological advancement but the transformation of lives. Having UNICEF’s support is not just an endorsement, but a beacon for all innovators in Africa. Their commitment and vision align with ours, and together, we’re confident of setting another benchmark this year.”
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Impact of the summit
The Summit provides investors, sponsors, and contributors with the opportunity to get directly involved in Africa’s expanding innovation scene. This year, 8,272 submissions came in from 54 different African countries, and out of them, 71 winners were selected to represent their respective regions in Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, and Central Africa.
At the gala dinner that will be held during the Summit, during which GSA Africa’s stakeholder network of entrepreneurs, government delegations, like-minded investors, and foundations will be present, the 15 winners of the competition will be announced.
GSA Africa is successfully accelerating and amplifying African innovation on the global arena, which is a strategic imperative for attracting investment and scaling into new markets. Ethiopia, as the host country for the GSA Africa Summit, shows how GSA Africa is effectively accelerating and amplifying African innovation.
This commitment to supporting African talent is further backed by the success of Kubik, an Ethiopian firm that not only won Startup of the Year and the ESG category in the previous season of GSA Africa but also claimed the title of Global Startup Awards’ Startup of the Year. Kubik is an example of the kind of company that can be supported by this kind of devotion.
Sponsors and potential attendees can register their interest here.