Over the past few decades, African has been quietly but effectively making its mark in the tech world. From medicine to energy, startups are shaking up many industries for the better.
What makes startups in Africa particularly interesting is the huge amount of potential. Africa has a very youthful population that is open to innovation. It has a myriad of problems that can be solved well-using tech. This combination makes the Africa startup sector one with a very high ceiling.
So, that said, what are some of the African startups causing global sensations?
Moringa School
Moringa School, based in Nairobi Kenya, is a school that puts its main focus in tech-based learning in a bid to plug the gap between graduates and the African job market.
The school offers tech-based software development and data science as their main courses and currently has over 3000 students.
FlexFinTx
Founded by Zimbabwe-born entrepreneur Victor Mapunga and his Indian partner, Haardik Haardik, FlexFinTx is a digital identity wallet that uses blockchain to capture and store people’s identities online.
The startup is a way for millions of Africans without formal identification to create and store digital identities. The information can be retrieved without the internet.
Cambridge Industries
Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Cambridge Industries was founded by Samuel Alemayehu and is a startup focused on maximizing waste to energy.
The company is the first waste-energy plant in Ethiopia. The company is built in collaboration with the China National Electric Engineering Company. It now provides about 25% of Addis Ababa households with power. It gets rid of 80% of the city’s waste it gets.
mPharma
Based in Accra, Ghana, mPharma is a startup that aims to help national governments in the health sector by providing financing and inventory management solutions to hospitals. The aim is to increase patient access to high-quality medications.
Co-founded by Gregory Rockson in 2013, mPharma is currently in eight African countries and has been at the fore in donating free COVID-19 vaccines for health workers for the Ghanaian government.
Ordera
Based in Egypt, Ordera is a food-delivery app that was launched in 2019 and was among 20 companies selected for the Saudi Arabian accelerator program by 500 Startups and Misk Innovation.
The app has since grown in numbers and struck gold in 2020 following the emergence of COVID-19. This saw the company get a six-figure seed funding mid-2020, which helped it expand into new cities.
These are among the many startups that are causing a ripple effect in Africa and soon, across the world.
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