Digital Lab Africa (DLA), a springboard and incubation platform for African creatives in digital content, has announced the 10 winning projects of this year’s edition of the DLA accelerator programme.
Initiated by the Embassy of France and French Institute in South Africa (IFAS), DLA is managed by the South African technology hub Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, with support from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
From among 500 applications from over 30 sub-Saharan countries, 10 creatives from countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mali, and Ghana were selected.
These individuals stood out in the selection committee interviews based on their talent, creativity, and ability to motivate their ideas.
Each of the 10 winners receives an R42,000 cash prize and a tailored-made incubation programme to accelerate their project development.
This includes mentorship by French & sub-Saharan creative industries experts, a residence period in France within a digital cluster/hub, and participation at industry events in France and/or in sub-Saharan African region.
Furthermore, following a period of public online voting, the DLA Audience Award has been awarded to Justus Macharia from Kenya for his work titled BABA. With 501 votes out of 3329 in total, Macharia’s prize includes an invitation to one of the DLA industry events in France or in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Winners By Category
ANIMATION
RINGA MZANSI by Lwazi Msipha (South Africa)
UZI by Naddya Adhiambo Oluoch-Olunya (Kenya)
WEB CREATION
CARTOGRAPHIE DES RÉGIONS MUSICALES DU MALI by Tiécoura N’Daou (Mali)
RE/MEMBER YOUR DESCENDANTS by Xabiso Vili (South Africa)
DIGITAL MUSIC
SWAGGIFY by Marvin Madyara (Zimbabwe)
SUNKAMBE by Shaka Ramulifho (South Africa)
VIRTUAL REALITY
TRVLR by Komborerai Chapfika (Zimbabwe)
THE AFROCYBORG VR FILM COLLECTIVE by Shmerah Passchier & The Afrocyborg Collective (South Africa)
VIDEO GAME
MANCALA PLUS by Setriakor Nyomi (Ghana)
PRECIOUS CARGO by Simone Beneke-Graham, Shannon Bennetts, Rowan Brough & Niall Graham (South Africa)
About the Tshimologong Digital Content Hub
Established in 2016 in the vibrant inner-city district of Braamfontein, Johannesburg, Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct incubates digital entrepreneurs and grows the skills pipeline for the digital economy through collaboration with academia, corporates, government, and entrepreneurs.
In July 2018, Tshimologong launched a Digital Content Hub, an incubator of innovative and creative audio-visual content, in partnership with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS).
The idea of establishing a Digital Content Hub is born from an existing collaboration between Tshimologong and Digital Lab Africa, an initiative launched by IFAS in 2016 to support African start-ups creating multimedia content.
Tshimologong and IFAS have thus joined forces to integrate the existing Digital Lab Africa program within the Digital Content Hub.
About Digital Lab Africa
Digital Lab Africa (DLA) is the 1st platform dedicated to creative content (web creation, virtual reality, video game, animation, digital music) linked with innovation in Africa.
The very idea of DLA is to incubate emerging talent by offering them a springboard to jumpstart and accelerate their projects with the support of DLA partners & creative industries ecosystem (studios, events, producers, broadcasters, distributors, experts…)
