2nd Africa Sustainable Futures Awards Winners Announced
LONDON, October 23, 2025: The Financial Times and the World Bank Group announced the winners of the annual Africa Sustainable Futures Awards, a major programme promoting innovative, private sector-led solutions to some of the biggest development challenges in Africa.
Special attention in this second year was given to initiatives that create better jobs, foster commercial excellence, and build resilient local economies. Over 300 project entries were received in areas such as energy, infrastructure, healthcare, agribusiness, manufacturing and tourism, of which 19 were shortlisted across six core categories.
The awards were presented at a high-level dinner in London on October 22 at the conclusion of the FT’s two-day Africa Summit, a major event bringing together African governments, businesses, and finance leaders. The Summit included the Africa Sustainable Futures Awards’ Innovation Showcase, highlighting exciting new ideas that did not meet the eligibility criteria for the core categories but have the potential for transformative impact.
Full list of winners and highly commended projects:
- Access to Electricity and Infrastructure: Energy Infrastructure
Winner: MOPO battery rental system by Mobile Power, Africa-wide
Highly Commended: Husk Power mini-grids, Nigeria
- Access to Electricity and Infrastructure: Other Infrastructure
Winner: Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF), Nigeria
Highly Commended: Eastern Cape Fibre and Broadband Project, South Africa
- Agribusiness
Winner: Hello Tractor - Tractor financing and deployment, Africa-wide
Highly Commended: Ngwilago Youth Transcend - AI-driven, offline-enabled unified platform for multifunction irrigation, Tanzania
- Healthcare
Winner: AI Consult, an initiative of Penda Health, Kenya
Highly Commended: Luvelo Solutions, a digital platform for healthcare in collaboration with Luke Commission, Eswatini
- Local Manufacturing
Winner: Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries, Nigeria
Highly Commended: Do The Right Thing Apparel, Ghana
- Tourism
Winner: Triply - Operations and payments stack for travel agencies, Kenya
Highly Commended: The Cradle Group - Hotels and lodges, Kenya
- Innovation Showcase
Winner: SafePatch emergency detection device, by Ogooue Corps Technologies, Gabon
- Overall Award: Judges’ Award for Excellence
Winner: MOPO battery rental system by Mobile Power, Africa-wide
“The initiatives we evaluated were fascinating, and it was extremely difficult to decide on the winners. This is an exciting yet challenging time for Africa. I hope these awards continue to galvanise the innovation, ingenuity and capital the continent needs to realise its enormous potential,” said David Pilling, Africa Editor of the Financial Times and co-chair of the awards judging panel.
Ed Mountfield, Vice President Finance, Risk, Economics, and Sustainability at the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantees Agency (MIGA), and fellow judging panel co-chair, said: “The awards shine a spotlight on the remarkable creativity and drive of Africa’s entrepreneurs and private sector leaders. The winning initiatives demonstrate how innovative business models can deliver real impact – creating jobs, strengthening local economies, and advancing sustainable development. We are proud to celebrate these trailblazers and look forward to seeing their solutions scale across the continent, helping to unlock Africa’s vast potential.”
The awards judging panel consisted of:
- David Pilling, Africa Editor, Financial Times (co-chair)
- Ed Mountfield, Vice President Finance, Risk, Economics, and Sustainability at the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantees Agency (MIGA) (co-chair)
- Runa Alam, Co-founder and CEO, Development Partners International (DPI)
- Chris Chijiutomi, Managing Director and Head of Africa, British International Investment (BII)
- Mobola da-Silva, Partner, Capria Ventures
- Tshepidi Moremong, Chief Operating Officer, Africa50
- Lexi Novitske, General Partner, Norrsken22
- Ethiopis Tafara, Regional Vice President, Africa, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
For more details on the Africa Sustainable Futures Awards, please visit africasustainablefuturesawards.live.ft.com.
For further information, please contact:
Chichi Osuagwu, MIGA: cosuagwu@worldbankgroup
Mark Staniland, FT: mark.staniland@ft.com
About the Financial Times:
The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT has a record paying readership of 1.5mn, while the wider FT Group has a global paying audience of 3mn across its portfolio of journalism, products and services.
About the World Bank Group:
The World Bank Group works to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet through a combination of financing, knowledge, and expertise. It consists of the World Bank, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Initiated in 2024, the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform consolidates guarantee products and experts from across the World Bank Group. Housed at MIGA, it provides a simplified and comprehensive menu of guarantee solutions, enabling clients to select the instrument that best suits their needs. The platform streamlines processes, removes redundancies, and provides greater accessibility by de-risking investments in developing countries. Its goal is to boost the World Bank Group’s annual guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030.
For more information about the guarantee platform, please visit: https://www.worldbank.org/wbgguarantees
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