Five South African tech start-ups have stood out with innovation and will be heading off to the prestigious Irish Tech Challenge South Africa next year!
Global (17 November 2023) — Five South African tech start-ups were recently announced as the prized, pick-of-the-tech-litter who will head off to the prestigious Irish Tech Challenge South Africa next year.
Only in its second year, the Tech Challenge is an opportunity for South African businesses to benefit from countries like Ireland which have stellar reputations in the world of tech.
Almost 300 entries from South African-owned, growth-stage tech start-ups that are fuelled by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) entered. But, only these five made the final cuts after an intense session of workshops, masterclasses and mentorship experiences.
Each start-up has its own focus that applies to specific social niches in South Africa and Africa—from platforms that make women’s healthcare more accessible to the ever-growing industry of agritech.
The Final Tech Start-Ups:
- Thato Schermer for Zoie Health: Zoie Health is described as a platform for women, by women and provides accessible female and family healthcare services.
- Neo Hutiri for Pelebox: The social impact organisation is focused on tech inclusion to improve last-mile delivery for chronic medication access in Africa. As such, Pelebox exists as a smart locker system to help patients collect their repeat chronic medication in under to minutes.
- Vuyo Pakade for Foonda Africa: Vuyo’s start-up is a Pan-African talent marketplace that connects companies with skilled, young candidates by focusing on graduate recruitment and youth empowerment/
- Benedicta Durcan for Afrobodies: AfroBodies is a biotech company that produces recombinant alpaca antibodies. Their advancements in scientific research aim to make novel discoveries that will lead to new diagnostic tests and disease treatments.
- Tumelo Chiloane for Desert Green: Tumelo’s start-up is an agritech business bent on transforming the informal agri-value chain in Africa through the supply of fresh produce from small-scale farmers to informal traders. With their B2B e-commerce platform, GreenKart, they hope to allow small-scale farmers more access to markets and the minimisation of post-harvest losses.
The businesses will head to Ireland in February 2024.
As spearheaded by a host of Wits University’s Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, the Department of Science and Innovation, the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa and the Technology Innovation Agency amongst others, the challenge
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