{"id":25959,"date":"2026-06-18T08:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/?p=25959"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:06:27","slug":"first-ever-glomos-africa-winners-announced-alongside-gsma-open-gateway-africa-ignite-hackathon-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/first-ever-glomos-africa-winners-announced-alongside-gsma-open-gateway-africa-ignite-hackathon-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"First-ever GLOMOs Africa winners announced alongside\u00a0GSMA\u00a0Open Gateway\u00a0Africa Ignite Hackathon champions\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>GSMA recognises innovation driving digital transformation across&nbsp;Africa<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>18&nbsp;June 2026, London:&nbsp;<\/strong>The GSMA has announced the winners of the inaugural Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards Africa alongside the champions of the&nbsp;Open Gateway&nbsp;Africa Ignite Hackathon, highlighting both established and emerging innovation driving digital transformation across&nbsp;Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across both initiatives, the&nbsp;winners&nbsp;showcase&nbsp;the&nbsp;breadth of innovation in the region, from deployed solutions delivering impact today to the next generation of developers shaping what comes next.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>GLOMOs Africa<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Established as part of the GSMA\u2019s flagship MWC Series in Barcelona, the GLOMOs are the connectivity industry\u2019s 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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Digital Innovation for Africa\u2019s Real Economy Award<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/><em>CheckMe Ltd<\/em>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Closing the Mobile Internet Usage Gap in Africa \u2013 Innovation Award<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/><em>Irembo &#8211;\u00a0Byikorere: Turning Digital Access into Digital Confidence<\/em>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These awards recognise innovations transforming Africa\u2019s real economy across sectors including agriculture, energy, health,&nbsp;logistics&nbsp;and financial services, alongside initiatives expanding access to mobile internet and enabling more people to&nbsp;participate&nbsp;fully in the digital economy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Open Gateway&nbsp;Africa Ignite Hackathon&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In parallel, the Africa Ignite Hackathon has highlighted the strength of the region\u2019s developer ecosystem, bringing together participants from across&nbsp;Africa to create API-driven solutions addressing real-world challenges.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participants developed applications&nbsp;leveraging&nbsp;programmable network capabilities&nbsp;available through GSMA Open Gateway APIs&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;using&nbsp;CAMARA APIs and the Nokia Network-as-Code platform&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;to unlock new opportunities across areas such as financial inclusion, healthcare,&nbsp;agriculture&nbsp;and urban services.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>1st Prize\u00a0\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0TrustScore\u00a0(Portable Trust Broker for Africa&#8217;s Invisible Lending Economy)\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0Ramadhan Aheebwa\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>2nd Prize<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0SafeRide\u00a0(A Network-Powered Trust Layer for Ride-Hailing)\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0Jules Ndanga\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>3rd Prize\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>GridGuard\u00a0(AI-Powered Transformer Theft Prevention Using Telecom Network Intelligence)\u00a0&#8211; Batte\u00a0Akhsam\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With&nbsp;nearly 200&nbsp;unique ideas&nbsp;submitted&nbsp;by innovators across 14 countries in Africa,&nbsp;the winning teams&nbsp;demonstrated&nbsp;how network intelligence and advanced connectivity can be harnessed to build scalable, accessible solutions&nbsp;for local use cases.&nbsp;The Hackathon reinforces&nbsp;the growing&nbsp;significance&nbsp;of open network&nbsp;frameworks&nbsp;like GSMA&nbsp;Open Gateway and CAMARA APIs. By&nbsp;enabling developers to interact with network intelligence&nbsp;directly,&nbsp;without requiring deep telecom&nbsp;expertise,&nbsp;these frameworks are&nbsp;accelerating innovation across the region.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lara Dewar, CMO,&nbsp;GSMA,&nbsp;<\/strong>said:&nbsp;&#8220;From industry-leading solutions recognised through the GLOMOs Africa to emerging talent showcased in the&nbsp;Open&nbsp;Gateway&nbsp;Africa Ignite Hackathon, this year\u2019s 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\u2019s digital future.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The introduction of GLOMOs Africa, alongside initiatives such as the Africa Ignite Hackathon, reflects the GSMA\u2019s continued commitment to supporting innovation, ecosystem&nbsp;growth&nbsp;and digital inclusion across&nbsp;Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>-ENDS-<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About GSMA<\/strong>&nbsp;<br \/>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.&nbsp;Representing&nbsp;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\u2019s biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world\u2019s largest platform to&nbsp;convene&nbsp;the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Media Contacts<\/strong>&nbsp;<br \/>GSMA Press Office&nbsp;<br \/><a href=\"mailto:pressoffice@gsma.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pressoffice@gsma.com<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GSMA recognises innovation driving digital transformation across&nbsp;Africa&nbsp; 18&nbsp;June 2026, London:&nbsp;The GSMA has announced the winners of the inaugural Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards Africa alongside the champions of the&nbsp;Open Gateway&nbsp;Africa Ignite Hackathon, highlighting both established and emerging innovation driving digital transformation across&nbsp;Africa.&nbsp; Across both initiatives, the&nbsp;winners&nbsp;showcase&nbsp;the&nbsp;breadth of innovation in the region, from deployed solutions delivering impact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":25758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[],"class_list":["post-25959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 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