Empowering African innovation: Estonia and partners support digital-social innovation in Africa

ESTDEV and HAUS organised a joint application round from June to August to find start-ups in Africa that deal with digital-social innovation. The selection focused on five criteria: innovation, social impact, technological solution, focus on data and scalability. Of the 88 applications received, 10 companies were chosen.

This programme empowers African innovators to create transformative solutions in areas such as healthcare, climate resilience, financial inclusion, and digital connectivity.

"The selected companies have the potential to expand beyond their countries and create a greater effect throughout Africa. Their solutions are scalable and help alleviate socio-economic problems, which is exactly what we are looking for," said Laura Roop, project manager at ESTDEV.

The project will provide specially adapted training, mentoring and guidance for these companies. Companies will also be included in relevant networks to support them in finding new opportunities for sustainable growth and scaling their solutions.

ESTDEV's activities in this project are divided into two areas:

• Increase the capacity of private companies engaged in digital social innovation to scale up and find new funding opportunities to support their development.
• Build the capacity of regional and national institutions, civil society organisations, and the private sector through e-courses, training, workshops, and webinars to more effectively use, analyse, and share data to create value.

"Effective data management is important so that all countries can reach the full potential of digitisation. This project empowers stakeholders across sub-Saharan Africa to use data responsibly, thus boosting innovation and helping to ensure inclusive economic growth," said Andres Ääremaa, ESTDEV’s Digital Transformation programme manager. "By participating in this initiative, we are supporting the start of a data-driven development that will benefit all citizens.”

"When planning our projects, we try to focus on people-centeredness. The same applies to digitisation and entrepreneurship. This project is a great opportunity to take local data-driven ideas to the next level and positively impact the society at the heart of these innovations," said Katrin Winter, ESTDEV’s regional head for Africa.

The selected companies come from seven countries:

• VIYA HEALTH (Kenya) - dedicated to advancing women’s health, the Women’s Health Intelligence System (WHIS) is a comprehensive digital platform delivering personalised sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services for women and girls in low- and middle-income regions.
• Panuka AgriBiz Hub (Zambia) - innovating in agriculture, Panuka AgriBiz Hub is a data-driven digital platform designed to provide scalable agricultural mentorship through a mobile app. 
• Wakamoso Africa (South Africa) - focused on governance, Wakamoso Africa is a digital platform that empowers informal communities across Africa by collecting detailed, community-level data.
• Macquarie Medical (Namibia) - focused on health, Macquarie Medical’s flagship service, Dr MacQ, is a telemedicine platform designed to improve healthcare accessibility in Namibia, particularly for populations that are geographically and financially isolated.
• Niajiri Platform Limited (Tanzania) - specializing in digital employment solutions, Niajiri’s UNIKONEKT platform is an online incubator dedicated to enhancing youth employability in Tanzania. 
• Twiva Media Group's (Kenya) - focused on digital employment solutions, Twiva is an influencer-powered social commerce platform designed to help micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) market and sell products through social media influencers.
• The Ipachi Capital (Botswana) - dedicated to financial inclusion, Ipachi Capital empowers small businesses with access to capital through innovative, risk-based lending.
• The Génération de l’Automobile SUARL (Senegal) - focused on climate change and sustainable urban mobility, the companie’s WANALA E-Mobility Platform aims to transform urban transportation in Senegal by promoting electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
• AgriBORA (Kenya) - centered on financial inclusion, AgriBORA Kenya Limited’s agriKOPA platform aims to revolutionize agricultural financing by providing smallholder farmers with access to input loans through digital tools.
• Mipango Fintech’s (Tanzania) - focused on financial inclusion, Mipango App is a financial literacy platform designed to improve financial stability for low- to middle-income earners, with a particular focus on women and youth.

As these projects develop, they will not only address societal needs but also strengthen Africa’s data governance landscape. We invite stakeholders, investors, and the global community to join us in supporting these transformative projects that embody Africa’s potential in the digital age.

According to the cooperation agreement, ESTDEV has 895,000 euros to use to implement project activities, of which 645,000 euros comes from GIZ and 250,000 euros from ESTDEV.

What is digital social innovation?

Digital social innovation (DSI) is the development of innovative data-driven technology solutions to help solve societal problems and ultimately contribute to sustainable economic growth. Digital social innovation deals with areas such as e-health, digital inclusion and climate change.

The overall goal of Team Europe's Data Management in Africa project, which officially started last January, is to support the development of a human-centred data economy and society in Africa.

The Data Governance in Africa initiative is funded by the European Union and five member states (Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France and Germany) as part of the EU's Global Gateway strategy. The initiative is implemented by Digital Africa, Enabel, ESTDEV, HAUS, Expertise France and GIZ.