For the first time, Voice of America recently partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Africa Business Center to highlight the 2022 Africa Digital Innovation Competition. This annual event aims to boost startups on the continent and showcase some of the most innovative young minds in Africa.
A panel of judges from the U.S.-Africa Business Center and the private sector narrowed down a field of 1,700 candidates from 50 countries to 10 regional finalists. VOA’s Africa division highlighted the contest on its English to Africa website by producing individual profiles of each of the contestants. These contenders hailed from Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana and Zimbabwe and were selected for their proposals to use technology to improve agriculture practices, medical delivery services and data processing, to name a few examples.
“I’m so pleased to be able to spotlight these young and brilliant minds,” explained Acting VOA Director Yolanda López. “With their creativity and ambition, these innovators are contributing big ideas to their local communities and to the rest of the world.”
The top three finalists were announced live on Africa 54 and included Healthbotics of Nigeria, Shopa of Ghana and GrowAgric Limited of Kenya and were featured at the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December in Washington D.C.
