GSMA recognises innovation driving digital transformation across Africa
18 June 2026, London: The GSMA has announced the winners of the inaugural Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards Africa alongside the champions of the Open Gateway Africa Ignite Hackathon, highlighting both established and emerging innovation driving digital transformation across Africa.
Across both initiatives, the winners showcase the breadth of innovation in the region, from deployed solutions delivering impact today to the next generation of developers shaping what comes next.
GLOMOs Africa
Established as part of the GSMA’s flagship MWC Series in Barcelona, the GLOMOs are the connectivity industry’s most prestigious accolade. Their launch in Africa brings this global benchmark to the region for the first time, recognising organisations delivering real impact across the continent.
The inaugural GLOMOs Africa winners were selected by an independent panel of industry experts through a rigorous and transparent judging process, ensuring global credibility and alignment with the established GLOMOs standard.
- Digital Innovation for Africa’s Real Economy Award
CheckMe Ltd
- Closing the Mobile Internet Usage Gap in Africa – Innovation Award
Irembo – Byikorere: Turning Digital Access into Digital Confidence
These awards recognise innovations transforming Africa’s real economy across sectors including agriculture, energy, health, logistics and financial services, alongside initiatives expanding access to mobile internet and enabling more people to participate fully in the digital economy.
Open Gateway Africa Ignite Hackathon
In parallel, the Africa Ignite Hackathon has highlighted the strength of the region’s developer ecosystem, bringing together participants from across Africa to create API-driven solutions addressing real-world challenges.
Participants developed applications leveraging programmable network capabilities available through GSMA Open Gateway APIs – using CAMARA APIs and the Nokia Network-as-Code platform – to unlock new opportunities across areas such as financial inclusion, healthcare, agriculture and urban services.
- 1st Prize – TrustScore (Portable Trust Broker for Africa’s Invisible Lending Economy) – Ramadhan Aheebwa
- 2nd Prize – SafeRide (A Network-Powered Trust Layer for Ride-Hailing) – Jules Ndanga
- 3rd Prize – GridGuard (AI-Powered Transformer Theft Prevention Using Telecom Network Intelligence) – Batte Akhsam
With nearly 200 unique ideas submitted by innovators across 14 countries in Africa, the winning teams demonstrated how network intelligence and advanced connectivity can be harnessed to build scalable, accessible solutions for local use cases. The Hackathon reinforces the growing significance of open network frameworks like GSMA Open Gateway and CAMARA APIs. By enabling developers to interact with network intelligence directly, without requiring deep telecom expertise, these frameworks are accelerating innovation across the region.
Lara Dewar, CMO, GSMA, said: “From industry-leading solutions recognised through the GLOMOs Africa to emerging talent showcased in the Open Gateway Africa Ignite Hackathon, this year’s winners highlight the depth and diversity of innovation across the continent. Together, they demonstrate how mobile and advanced connectivity are enabling inclusive growth and shaping Africa’s digital future.”
The introduction of GLOMOs Africa, alongside initiatives such as the Africa Ignite Hackathon, reflects the GSMA’s continued commitment to supporting innovation, ecosystem growth and digital inclusion across Africa.
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About GSMA
The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today’s biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world’s largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.
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