As the initiative of Smartlab to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in the fourth industrial era, Smartlab partnered with the Global innovation initiative Group (GIIG) at the beginning of December 2022. The partnership aims to empower the Startup community, individuals and innovation ecosystem enablers to be globally recognized, connected and even invested in through the Global Startup Awards (GSA) platform. Smartlab is the announced GSA Country representative of Tanzania.

The GSA Nomination Season for the year 2022/23 is now open. And we invite all Tanzania Startups, individuals and ecosystem enablers to participate in nominating their businesses. The global startup awards GSA has four main phases: National level, Regional level(East Africa), continental level (Africa) and finally, the Global round.

As the Country representative for Tanzania, we invite all Tanzanian innovation leaders, founders and individuals to apply under the Eastern Africa Startup Awards.

The Eastern Africa startup awards include the following categories.

• Startup of the Year 
• Best Newcomer 
• Founder of the Year
• Venture Capitalist of the Year
• Best Accelerator/ Incubator of the Year
• Best Coworking Space
• Mobility and Logistics
• Agritech 
• Commerce Tech
• Ecommerce Hero of the Year
• Ed Tech
• Best Green Tech Startup
• Best Health Tech Startup
• Diversity Role Model of the Year
• Best web 3.0 Startup

General Criteria

• The startup must be a maximum of 5 years in age – calculated from the establishment date until public nominations open (with the exception of the Best Newcomer category and the Best Venture Capitalist category).
• The startup must have been founded and must currently be located in the country participating in the competition.
• The startup must have a minimum viable product (MVP) and/or service in the market.
• The startup must be generating monthly recurring revenue.
• The startup must have a team of two or more people.
• The startup must be African-led, meaning that it must have at least one founder or co-founder on the team who is from Africa and resides on the continent.
• All applications must be submitted in English, and all decks/pitches must be in English too.
• No applicant may reach out to judges/jury members in advance of the competition process advocating for their startup. Anyone who does so will be disqualified. If you have any conflicts of interest, please reach out to the GSA Africa team prior to submitting your application.
• GSA Africa reserves the right to select and reject applicants at any time.

Since its launch in 2018, the Eastern Africa Startup Awards, which form part of the Global Startup Awards (GSA), has provided a platform for startups with the high-impact potential to connect with investors.

Nominations are open, enter and nominate now. Help us find the next 1%. Global Startup Awards