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MEF is proud to be a supporting partner of the annual AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards 2017, celebrating the best in mobile and tech from across Africa. 

Now in their third year, the awards supported by Boomplay Music, Basebone, BBM, Content Connect Africa and Mobile Monday South Africa (MOMO) attracted over 300 submissions from across 31 countries, and are judged by an independent panel of leading industry experts from across the ecosystem.

For the full list of finalists check out the AppasAfrica website – but now lets take a closer look at the finalists from three of the categories, Best Social Messaging, Disruptive Innovation and Best African App awards.

Some of the 2016 winners

Best Social and Messaging Award

Flare – Kenya

Flare is an emergency response startup that provides new software infrastructure and operational support for emergency response teams, both government and private.

Flare aims to improve response times for emergency teams by putting available providers on the same network, making their services available to all and giving more people access to critical life-saving information and resources that might otherwise be unable to reach them.

Visit Flare

Juntos – Africa

Juntos is a Fintech startup that aims to serve as a bridge from financial access to true financial inclusion for the world’s newly-banked.

Partnering with financial service providers worldwide, Juntos deliver engaging conversations via SMS to build trust, comfort, and confidence with customers so they can effectively use newly-available financial products, increase their participation in the financial system, and feel empowered in their financial lives.

Visit Juntos

1Fetch – South Africa

1Fetch is an on-demand, instant motorbike courier service providing users with a fast, efficient and professional sameday delivery service across Gauteng at the touch of a button.

Using the web or Android or IOS apps, 1Fetch customers get access to on-demand, sameday deliveries with access to sophisticated as track and trace, electronic proof of delivery and instant invoicing for reporting purposes.

Visit 1Fetch

Kudi – Nigeria

Kudi is a payments chat bot AI that allows users to interact with their finances in a seamless, straightforward and friendly way.

Just by chatting via text message, Kudi can pay bills, remind you about payments transfer funds and purchase airtime – all while totally secure – the service guarantees end-to-end security of user details & payment information for peace of mind.

Visit Kudi

Wetin Dey – Nigeria

WETIN DEY is Nigeria’s first Cloud Based Social Messaging & Creative Chat App specifically designed to provide speed, security, privacy and promote social development.

The app allows users to share unlimited number of files including photos, videos, music and documents, among supergroups of up to 10,000 members – or just among friends – all within a fast, safe and secure messaging environment that works across even the weakest mobile connections.

Visit Wetin Dey

Disruptive Innovation Award

Mastercard 2Kuze – Kenya

2KUZE from Mastercard is a digital platform that connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in East Africa.

2KUZE, which in Swahili means “Let’s grow together,” enables farmers to buy, sell and receive payments for agricultural goods via their feature phones. The platform brings the benefits and security of mobile commerce and payments to farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Visit 2KUZE

Medsaf – Nigeria

Medsaf makes the process of buying and selling medication in Nigeria’s complex health system easy and efficient.

Supplying medication directly from local and foreign manufacturers, Medsaf ensures quality and price, delivering to hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics all over the country, while providing robust inventory management with real-time stock details, order reminders and alerts, and historical sales data for forecasting.

Visit Medsaf

What3Words – South Africa

what3words is a really simple way to talk about location. The world has been divided into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each one a unique 3 word address, allowing anyone to accurately find any location and share it quickly, easily and with less ambiguity than any other system. 

Without an address, people struggle to access health and education services, register land and vote. Many of these people live in rapidly expanding cities, or informal settlements – what3words allows them to have access to all these services and more.

Visit what3words

Trend Solar – Tanzania

Trend Solar’s mission is to bring next-generation solutions for off-grid users in developing countries.

Their “Solar Home System” has been designed to provide a cheaper and cleaner alternative to people who live off-grid and so may have to walk miles to buy kerosene for lighting or recharge a phone. The package comes with an included smartphone, complete with an app to manage the system and buy energy through existing pay-as-you-go providers.

Visit Trend Solar

Girl Effect – TEGA – Nigeria

Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors (TEGA) is a ground breaking mobile learning platform that uses certified data-collection techniques and mobile technology to teach girls aged 18-24 how to collect meaningful, honest data about their world in real time. The data they collect can be translated and analysed within 15 minutes of being uploaded.

Girls undertake the three-month training via their mobile devices to become certified qualitative and quantitative digital interviewers. The learning process uses gamefication to keep the girls engaged and provides them with a skillset and qualification that can be used beyond TEGA.

Visit Girl Effect – TEGA

Best African App

Carter – South Africa

Carter is a South African app that allows users to quickly identify new cars to suit their requirements and link them to dealers and good deals .

Using a smart “Carmatch” algorithm users are quickly able to find and compare cars according to their needs, and then to find a good deal on their chosen vehicle without any of the complex negotiating that usually goes hand in hand with buying a new car.

Visit Carter

Asorbia – Ghana

Asorbia is a tech startup for churches to help effectively minister their congregation. The solutions helps members easily engage with their church leaders while assisting the church in utilizing new tech to grow and develop.

Combining effective church administration software with an integrated mobile app for seamless member engagement, Asorbia leverages the social power of the internet to create closer and more unified Christian communities.

Visit Asorbia

TrueCaller – Africa

Truecaller is an app for mobile that specialises in identifying unknown calls and blocking spam SMS.

Once installed, the app filters out unwanted calls and texts allowing users to only connect with the people they really want to – making communication more safe and more efficient.

Visit TrueCaller

BoomPlay – Africa

Boomplay is the #1 music streaming & download service in Africa, giving users access to millions of songs, videos & entertainment news.

With millions of songs, thousand of videos and up to the minute entertainment news, users are able to download and listen to their favourite songs and content to enjoy while on the go.

Visit Boomplay

FeastFox – South Africa

Feastfox is a spontaneous eating out app, that lets users find and book a place to eat or drink at the drop of a hat.

The app shows restaurants that have availability, letting users discover new spots using a slick map view and even shows you who has deals available, with many exclusively available through the app. You can even book a table right inside the app so you can be enjoying fine dining or a morning coffee with minimum fuss ad effort.

Visit FeastFox

Join us in Cape Town for the AppsAfrica Innovation Awards 2017 – November 6

MEF supported by Basebone and Content Connect Africa are delighted to once again be partnering with AppsAfrica and MoMo South Africa to bring together over 250 senior industry executives for an evening of networking, awards and music.

Book your place now

MEF