GSMA backs 6 African startups through innovation fund
Summary
Launched in July 2016, the fund offers between GB£100,000 (US$140,000) and GB£250,000 (US$349,000) to startups leveraging mobile to achieve socio-economic impact in their local markets in Africa and Asia. They include Ghanaian agri-tech startup AgroCenta, Ivory Coast-based mobile-supported plastic recycling solution Coliba and Kenyan ed-tech platform Eneza Education. Also funded are Cameroonian maternal health platform GiftedMom, Benin-based mobile identity solution KEA Medicals, and Ethiopian recruitment service Taskmoby. The six African recipients are joined by five more companies, namely Greenovator (Myanmar), Pacific Ads Group (Papua New Guinea), Qlue (Indonesia), SkyEye (Samoa), and oDoc (Sri Lanka). “The breadth of sectors represented within the portfolio is also expanding, with new challenges such as citizen engagement, waste management, or universal medical identity being tackled by the newcomers.”