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Following the incredible success of the inaugural competition last year, KPMG again called out to tech innovators across the continent to bring their innovations to the table in the aim of not only highlighting new technology breakthroughs that transform and revolutionise businesses in diverse industries, but to identify those businesses truly leading the pack – to take them to the global event taking place in in Lisbon, Portugal in November 2022.
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After a four-month long competition, KPMG Private Enterprise has announced the winner of their Tech Innovator in Africa Awards where, iiDENTIFii took the top spot, followed closely by Chekkit Technologies Inc in second place and Troygoldin in third place.
The global competition is made up of 20 countries across key economies globally and while each region runs their own competition, the global platform allows for various players across the world to pitch their businesses’ products and services and become recognised for leading tech innovation and business model excellence, judged by a panel of local and global industry experts.
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“Africa is ripe with innovation and this competition truly showcases Africa’s leading tech innovators on a local and global scale – demonstrating the impact that the fastest-growing tech innovators are having across the globe.
“We opened the competition in February this year and had an overwhelming response with 159 applications from across the continent – almost double compared to the number of applications received last year. This demonstrates not only the growing tech innovation in Africa but indicates the appetite for African tech businesses to be recognised and scale their operations for the greater good of the continent and its people,” said Alan Barr, Partner and Head of Private Enterprise at KPMG.
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Following of the gruelling semi-finals rounds in East, Southern and West Africa, 10 finalists pitched it out at a virtual event for the final leg of the Africa competition. The competition was tough but iiDENTIFii was announced as the winner that will represent Africa at the global event later this year. The finalists were judged on innovation and disruption, market potential, customer adoption, marketing/buzz, pitch quality and long-term potential and sustainability of their respective businesses – leaving the esteemed judges with a difficult task at hand.
“It was great to see the shift in innovations this year and how African businesses have used the challenges of the past two years to truly define their strategies and ensure they have adapted to what the market wants and needs,” continues Barr.