The Africa Tech Festival Awards (formerly known as AfricaCom Awards), turns 14 in 2021.  These established industry awards acknowledge and recognize innovations and innovators who are enabling transformation, inclusivity, and digital democracy across the African continent.  Winners are determined by people's choice and will be announced throughout the virtual conference taking place 08-12 November 2021.  Voting deadline is Wednesday 3 November, 23:30 CAT.

In 2021, three new awards categories have been established taking account of developments in the technology arena. They are the Fintech Innovation of the Year, Africa’s Green ICT Champion along with Africa’s Rising Star, which sets the scene for tomorrow’s leaders and disruptors in African tech.

Sameh Sobhy, Managing Director – META Region, at communications service provider PCCW Global, remarked that: “As founding sponsor of the Africa Tech Festival Awards, PCCW Global is delighted to once again support the virtual Awards ceremony and showcase excellence in African technology.  We are particularly excited to champion leading organisations and individuals within the new categories for 2021 – Green ICT Champion, Fintech Innovation of the year and Africa’s Rising Star.”

Commenting on this year’s Awards that will be announced throughout the virtual streaming of the conference, James Williams, Africa Tech Festival Event Director remarked: “The addition of these three new categories reflects the important role of the fintech sector in bridging the digital divide across Africa, as well as the keen awareness of those involved in telecommunications and technology for sustainability and a ‘greener’ impact on the built environment.

“In also acknowledging those projects and people who are disrupting the norm for the greater good, these Awards are helping to spread the word to those who can truly benefit from their ingenuity.”

The shortlisted nominees for 2021 Africa tech Festival Awards are:

Fintech Innovation of the Year

New for 2021, The Fintech Innovation of the Year Award recognises the organisation, project or individual who has disrupted the African Fintech space.

·         ECOBBA AFRICA LTD

·         OtangU- Eat Now Pay Later

·         Interswitch Group

·         Ericsson’s Wallet Platform

·         Huawei’s support of M-Pesa Africa (Joint Venture between Safaricom and Vodacom) with FinTech Innovation

Green ICT Champion

New for 2021, the Green ICT Champion of the Year Award will celebrate the individual or organisation leading on the development and integration of sustainable energy solutions.

·         Jesse Forrester, CEO, Mazi Mobility

·         Huawei’s Smart PUE Solution for Data Centers

·         Ericsson

Building a Better, More Inclusive Digital World

This award recognises organisations and initiatives that have made a significant contribution to helping us build a more accessible and inclusive digital world.

·         Africa Teen Geeks

·         Yielding Accomplished African Women, Our Girls Our Future

·         Ericsson and Unicef partnership to connect every school to the Internet by 2030

·         Huawei Supports African ICT Skills and Talent Development with African Union Academy

·        Parallel Wireless Urban Macro Open RAN Solution

Connectivity Project of the Year

This award celebrates the network providers and services going above-and-beyond to provide connectivity in an environment where demand has never been higher, and broadband has become a lifeline for access to education & economic activity.

·         Mauritius Telecom

·         ZTE Corporation - The world’s first Tri-RAT dynamic spectrum sharing solution SuperDSS

·         Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ first East to West Fibre Link in Africa

CXO of the year

'The CXO of the Year Award' is back for 2021 - recognising the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, CDOs and others in driving development within the African tech space.

·         John Kamara. CEO, Adanian Labs

·         Stephen Blewett, CEO, MTN Cameroon

·         Sherry Singh, CEO Mauritius Telecom

·         Robin Reetch, CEO, Kune Food

Female Innovator of the Year

It's time to celebrate female achievement and contribution to technology, media & telecoms this year. This award will recognise the outstanding achievements of women who are playing a crucial role in African technology and telecommunications

·         Sylvia Mukasa, Founder/CEO - GlobalX Investments Ltd/GlobalX Innovation Labs

·         Sibongile Mongadi, Uku'hamba Prosthetics and Orthotics (Pty) Ltd

·         Diana Wilson, CEO, Yielding Accomplished African Women

Most Innovative Product or Service

This Award recognises a game-changing product or service that has provided it's target market with significant new opportunities for revenue growth or customer satisfaction.

·         Bloow

·         Decagon

·         iSpace foundation

·         MTN’s implementation of 5G digital operations

·         Telkom SA & Huawei Build Africa's Top1 VoLTE Commercial Network

·         Mauritius Telecom& Huawei “my.t 360°” Digital Operation

·         PCCW Global

Africa's Rising Star

New for 2021, the Africa's Rising Star Awards has been launched to celebrate the emerging talent in African tech - recognising and identifying future leaders and disruptors.

·         Joy Mwangi, Ada Animation

·         Arnold Nyendwa, CEO at VENTURAS JUMPSTART

·         Ian Abraham, Head of Design, and Innovation at Kune Food

·         Tobi Lafinhan, Co-Founder at Venture for Africa.