Denis Opudo
South Africa will host the regional finale of Global Startup Awards-Southern Africa (GSASA) in October. Therefore, the nominations for GSASA will begin from March. The organizers of the event came up with the idea after realizing the need to reinforce African startup development. Currently, the event covers twenty-six countries. However, the organizers intend to include new regions for the award in 2018. The proposed regions include Baltic countries, Middle East, Southern Africa, Southern Europe and United Kingdom (UK).
Speaking to the Regional Director of GSASA, Mckevin Ayaba, he said that startups will showcase their talents during the event. Moreover, he said that the projects from various entrepreneurs will receive recognition. He also said that in line with this, seven judges will oversee the process. The judges will be in charge of the regional, national and global stages of the competition. The first GSASA global awards were hosted in Denmark in 2012.
Some of the companies that support the event include Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and Google AWS.
The inclusion of other regions for the competition will help startups to showcase their talents and network with other global startups. Ayaba also said that Southern Africa needs people to encourage entrepreneurs to move to the next level. He said that people of Southern Africa need exposure.
Those who qualify for the regional level will proceed to the global level of competition set for December 2018. The six categories of awards include award for the ‘Best agricultural startup’, ‘Best investor of the year award’, ‘Best co-working space’, ‘Best student startup’, ‘Best accelerator programme of the year’
