Winners of the Apps4Africa 2012 Announced

The U.S. Department of State has announced the winners of Apps4Africa 2012: Business Challenge, an Africa-wide competition to develop sustainable technology-based solutions to youth unemployment.

Selected from nearly 300 applications from 27 countries by an international panel of judges, the winning teams are:

SliceBiz (from Ghana): a web and mobile investment platform that uses crowdsourcing to connect promising startups with young investors in Africa.

Prowork (from Nigeria): a web and mobile project management tool that enables businesses to create and assign tasks and track project status in real-time.

Ffene (from Uganda): a low-cost business management platform that helps small and medium-sized businesses simplify accounting, generate reports, and manage customer relations.

These young technology entrepreneurs—and the many others who competed this year—are the faces of a growing trend of innovative African start-up companies.

Winners are awarded $10,000 each with the possibility of top-up funds if the winners meet set targets.