KPMG SA has announced the winners of its KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in Africa competition, with South Africa-based Khula! coming out as the leading tech innovator and set to participate in the global leg of the competition in November.
This global competition, which was created to include 16 countries across most major regions of the world, invited businesses to pitch their innovations and present their growth ambitions to panels of local and global industry experts in the hopes of being recognised as a leading tech innovator.
“We opened the competition to Africa in February this year and received 75 applications from across the continent. The response was phenomenal, as was the talent and innovation across these businesses. Thirty applicants were then chosen, based on the competition criteria, to proceed to the judges’ scoring round. From here, 10 finalists were then invited to pitch at a virtual event where Khula! was announced as the overall Africa winner,” says Alan Barr, partner and head of Private Enterprise at KPMG.
Khula!, he adds, was not only chosen because of the innovation they have shown in their business but, most importantly, for how sustainable this business model has proven to be – from a start-up to a company that now has incredible growth potential. There is no doubt that Africa should be closely watched as the next big growth market with an exciting digital ecosystem and job creation resources and Khula! has demonstrated how digital innovation, coupled with a customer-centric view, can truly provide lessons for the rest of the world to learn and grow from.
As the winner of the KPMG Tech Innovator in Africa, Khula! will now participate in a global final at the Web Summit Conference in Lisbon, Portugal in November, together with the winners of each of the participating countries. Khula! will not only be recognised for its business approach on the global stage, but have the chance to network with other industry experts and tech innovators across the globe.
“I am incredibly humbled that we have been chosen as the overall winner to represent Africa on the global stage, more especially because we are in the process of rolling out the Khula! Inputs App. None of this would have been possible without my incredible team. The competition was incredibly intense and a lot of the finalists were at a far more advanced stage than we are – this makes it even more important for us to bring our A-game in Lisbon” says Karidas Tshintsholo, CEO of Khula!
Barr adds: “The technology sector is growing at a rapid pace in Africa and today’s innovators have shown that matching technologies to real work challenges can lead to significant gains in growth and efficiency. I want to congratulate Khula! on being recognised as KPMG’s Tech Innovator in Africa, it is a well-deserved accolade, and we wish them well as they prepare to take the global stage in November and showcase the true potential of Africa.”