We bring you a list of the 2022 Microsoft Partner of the year country award winners from across Africa. The announcement comes ahead of Microsoft Inspire 2022 where Microsoft will celebrate exemplary achievements from across its global partner ecosystem. The 2022 Microsoft Inspire partner event is set to take place July 19-20 as a free global digital event.
Microsoft uses the partner award to recognize outstanding partner accomplishments within its community. Highlighting organizations building new and innovative solutions for their customers using Microsoft technologies. This year, the company received over three thousand nine hundred entries from one hundred and twenty-six countries. Across categories including, partner competencies, cloud-to-edge technologies, entrepreneurial spirit and social impact.
Below are Microsoft Partner Africa winners from the country and region category.
At Microsoft, we believe our partners make more possible. That’s why we recognize exceptional partner contributions.
2022 Microsoft Partner Africa award winners – country category
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Africa No Filter, in partnership with Meta, Electric South and Imisi 3D are awarding African Extended Reality Creators with up to $30,000 in grants to support the production and development of new content.
Six creators are winners of the ‘Future Africa: Telling Stories, Building Worlds’ programme. The program focuses on harnessing and investing in the next generation of Extended Reality (XR) creators and ecosystems in Africa.
The winners come from Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Cameroon, and Kenya. They will incorporate the creative uses of music, multimedia installations, films and sculpture in their work. To explore projects around spirituality, heritage, the cosmos, imagination and memory and masculinity into their extended realities projects. All with a focus on telling compelling African stories that are contemporary, narrative-shifting, and immersive.
Each creator will get funding of up to $30,000. Participate in XR-industry events to improve their creativity and showcase their projects. They will also access mentorship from Electric South and Imisi3D.
It’s reassuring to see the amount of incredible XR talent on the African continent, says Jessica Hagan, Arts and Culture Program Lead at ANF. “The creativity and innovation we encountered in the selection process has been very exciting. It shows that Africa is also on the pulse of global innovation and tech trends that are redefining how stories are told and experienced. XR content creation is costly, but African creators are not falling behind,” she adds.
The six Extended Reality Creators are:
Pierre-Christophe Gam, Cameroon: A multimedia artist who is working on a hybrid art installation that fuses VR, film, photography, and mixed-media sculpture to imagine the future of Africa from the perspective of an African family living in 2070.
Xabiso Vili, South Africa: A writer, performer and new media artist. Vili’s visual album is a speculative fiction piece that explores reconciliation and healing. Vili hopes to turn toxic masculinity into compassionate masculinity.
Nirma Madhoo, Mauritius: A fashion filmmaker, XR creator and Ph.D. candidate. Her work explores African cultures as technologies, which she illustrates through ancient practices like cultural astronomy.
Michelle Angawa, Kenya: A film editor XR creator. This creation centres around a short tragicomedy that depicts a day-in-the-life of a Nairobian boda boda rider. Exploring desire and the complexities of Nairobian life.
Malik Afegbua, Nigeria: A multimedia artist who is curating a virtual heritage experience of the Kofar-Mata dye pit, a cultural and historical site in Kano, Nigeria.
Lara Sousa, Mozambique: A director and producer. This creation uses the journey of Lemanjá, the Afro-Brazilian goddess of wisdom, to explore the ocean as a sacred site of spirituality.
“This specially curated program is an opportunity to support African storytellers who are leveraging the power of the next evolution of social technology. Whilst also shining a spotlight on the amazing, creative, and diverse talent pool we have here on the continent. We understand the power of Extended Reality and how it can be used to tell stories that shift narratives about and within the continent. We’re excited to see these visions come to life.”
Sherry Dzinoreva, Meta’s Public Policy Programs Director, Africa, Middle East, and Turkey
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Flapmax is introducing the first 12 startups to kick off the FAST startup accelerator program. The startup incubation program seeks to help strengthen and scale Africa’s digital ecosystem. In partnership with Microsoft, Flapmax’s twelve-week startup accelerator will begin on March 21st. The 12 startups come from 6 different countries, serve 9 industries, and include 2 female founders.
Flapmax says over 800 applications from 25 countries in Africa were received for the first FAST accelerator cohort. With the highest number of applications coming from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt. Industries represented by the application pool included AgTech, EdTech, HealthTech, FinTech and more.
“Microsoft believes that African startups are well-placed to become a cornerstone of the African digital economy, with relevant solutions to local societal challenges. Participation in the FAST startup accelerator program will help these entrepreneurs capture available funding opportunities and plan for growth and future market expansion”
Gerald Maithya, Startups Lead, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.
“In partnership with the Microsoft team, we are bringing together a unique mix of technology business and innovative entrepreneurs to build and scale societally impactful solutions that enable digital transformation across industries, as well as an introduction to cloud and AI-integration tools designed to unlock new value for their businesses”.
Dave Ojika, founder and CEO, Flapmax
FAST applicants had to be based in Africa, ready to scale or expand within the continent, and have an established product-market fit while addressing one or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The first Flapmax FAST accelerator cohort features the following startups:
Capsa Technology (app.getCapsa.com) : Online platform to buy and sell invoices for businesses in Africa Nigeria | FinTech | SDG: No Poverty
Silqu (www.Silqu.com): Africa’s most advanced proptech platform in real estate and technology Kenya | PropTech | SDG: Decent Work and Economic Growth
LegitCar (LegitCar.ng): Building Africa’s biggest vehicle data service Nigeria | Automotive | SDG: Sustainable Cities and Communities
VAIS (VAIS.ai): Comprehensive precision agriculture platform powered by AI & earth observation Egypt | AgTech | SDG: Zero Hunger
Snark Health (SnarkHealth.com): Partner with your doctor. Leverage your data. Pay less. Kenya | HealthTech | SDG: Good Health and Well-being
Pade HCM (PadeHCM.com): Automated HR for all African businesses Nigeria | Enterprise Software | SDG: Decent Work and Economic Growth
K-12 EdTech (K12plus.app): Asynchronous and synchronous kindergarten to 12th-grade education app Kenya | EdTech | SDG: Quality Education
Tumaini La Maisha (www.weareTLM.org): Pediatric oncology services Tanzania | Government & Public Service | SDG: Good Health & Well-being
Taimba (Taimba.co.ke): East Africa’s First Data-Driven Food Supply Chain Platform Kenya | AgTech | SDG: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Wala Digital Health (WalaDigital.io): Digital platform for hospitals access to blood that saves lives Ghana | HealthTech | SDG: Good Health and Well-being
KaCyber Technologies (www.KaCyber.com) : Making seamless mobility a reality in Africa Uganda | Mobility | SDG: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Flapmax Learn
Flapmax also announced the launch of its new upskilling and reskilling platform, Flapmax Learn, which would be used during the twelve-week FAST program to facilitate technology and business masterclasses and certifications. The top 100 startups from the FAST applicant pool will receive complimentary access to the Flapmax Learn platform, including the accelerator learning modules and masterclasses.
Beginning March 21, the FAST accelerator cohort will engage in a broad range of activities, including training, business development, cloud & AI integration, fundraising and community-building events designed to help them scale rapidly and sustainably. Microsoft engineering team members will work one-on-one with participants on co-innovation projects ranging from product integrations to new offerings. With the help of the Flapmax engineering team, the startup founders will access new technology tools and services. Participants will benefit from up to $250,000 in Microsoft Azure cloud credits, as well as access to Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, including access to OpenAI APIs.
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