Ghana’s Dropifi wins 2012 global entrepreneurial Startup Open grand prize
Ghanaian technology firm, Dropifi, on November 12, 2012 was named grand prize winner of the 2012 Startup Open, a competition for startups with high-growth potential featured as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2012.
Dropifi, which was started in 2011, assists businesses to better respond to incoming messages via their website, and also includes analytics for website owners. The startup’s web messaging platform seeks to supersede the traditional “contact us” form.
“Dropifi was selected out of 50 companies announced last month as the “GEW 50,” the best and brightest new startups around the globe,” the Washington-based GEW announced in a statement November 12, 2012.
As the grand prize winners, the GEW said Dropifi’s co-founder, David Osei, “receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Rio de Janeiro to serve as an official delegate to one of the world’s largest startup community gatherings, the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in March 2013.”
In addition to the trip, the statement said Dropifi will be featured in a Kauffman Foundation animated ‘sketchbook’ video which aims to demystify the phenomenon of entrepreneurship and bring to light messages about the important role entrepreneurs play in innovation, job creation, and economic growth.
“By winning the Startup Open, Dropifi is at the top of that list and has a very promising future,” said Jonathan Ortmans, President of the GEW.
In its third year, the Startup Open competition was open to entrepreneurs who had a “startup moment” between GEW 2011 and GEW 2012
The group says a panel of judges selected the winners on the basis of concept, growth projections and knowledge of their industry.
It indicated that nearly 400 applications from 56 countries were evaluated in the first round of judging which resulted in the GEW 50 which represents a range of industry sectors and 17 countries.
By Ekow Quandzie