World Summit Awards Recognize Four South African Startups

In recognition of their efforts to use innovation to improve South African communities, four homegrown digital start-ups have been selected to compete in the World Summit Awards (WSA). The global WSA project chooses and supports regional digital innovation to advance society. The Sustainable Development Goals of the UN are taken into consideration when choosing these breakthroughs (SDGs).

According to Peter A. Bruck, the WSA chairman, the dedication to the UN SDGs and the use of ICTs for development.

“We congratulate all nominees. World Summit Awards combines two major perspectives in its initiative. First, the commitment on the UN SDGs, and how to use ICTs to development. And second, the development of a global knowledge society. The UN SDGs must be our measurement – in terms of what to look at and where to look.”

The WSA is primarily concerned with recognizing innovative cases of how ICT can benefit society locally. From approximately 350 submissions submitted this year from 79 countries, digital start-ups were chosen by WSA national experts.

The nominated South African start-ups are: messaging service MoyaApp (inclusion and empowerment category); smart vending machine solutions firm Imagined Earth (smart settlements and urbanisation); reverse data billing app Datafree (inclusion and empowerment); and payments platform Paymenow (business and commerce).

The WSA claims that the nominees for 2022 are judged using seven different factors: content, functionality, design, technology, innovation, impact, and value. The winners receive recognition for their efforts as well as assistance in expanding them so that society can more effectively address social concerns like gender equality, digital inclusion, pandemic preparedness, and climate change. The award presentation will occur in February 2023.

MoyaApp creator and CEO Gour Lentell says, “We are proud to have been nominated for this award and to have been selected from among the many incredible South African digital technologies. MoyaApp is about promoting inclusive mobile communication and digital services access. We do this by removing the significant data cost barrier to engage South African mobile audiences, which speaks to the UN goal on empowerment and inclusivity.”