Our Innovation Challenge Winners in 2020, 2021 & 2022.
Here are some of the previous winners and runner-ups from the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit & Challenge
Scott Blount (Winner 2022) Founder – TripClip, South Africa |
Scott Blount is the founder of TripClip, a world-first travel tech platform that was launched in South Africa in 2021. TripClip has quickly become one of Africa’s quickest growing travel tech companies, spanning across 14 African countries with clients throughout the world.
TripClip was named the World’s Best Travel Itinerary Builder in 2021 and have again been shortlisted for this award in 2022. Scott is also a finalist in the ATP Youth In Innovation Challenge 2022. His passion for innovation extends beyond the travel industry and he’s proud to have previously founded/co-founded two additional start-up ventures. |
Nkululeko Nkosi (1st Runner-Up 2022) Co-founder – Etela Africa, South Africa |
Nkululeko Ndumiso Nkosi is a 28 year old entrepreneur, writer, strategist and technology innovator who hails from Lekwa (formerly known as Standerton) in the Mpumalanga province. Nkululeko Nkosi fulfills his professional and leadership duties from South Africa’s city of gold — Johannesburg, South Africa.
His passion for research and his understanding of African culture both urban and rural makes his strategic work not only relevant but also come with a very high degree of authenticity. He has represented South Africa through his marketing, media and entertainment consultancy work at the ONGEA Summit in Kenya, 4th Africa Youth In Tourism Summit Innovation & Challenge in Namibia and the Financial Security Olympiad in Russia competing against youth in BRICS nations. Nkululeko is currently the co-founder of Saturated, a digital agency startup which has developed an innovative tourism digital product titled Etela Africa for the African continent. Etela Africa translates to ‘Visit Africa’ in the Sotho languages of Southern Africa. |
Jeffrey-Takunda Murungweni (2nd Runner Up 2022) CEO – Trafiki Africa, Zimbabwe |
Jeffrey-Takunda Murungweni is a 20-year-old Zimbabwean who is passionate about tourism and the inclusion of technology to help make the tourist experience a much better one. He is currently a first-year student at Africa University, pursuing an honours degree in Computer Science.
Jeffrey is the founder of a travel tech company called Trafiki Africa. Through this company, he has developed a WhatsApp chatbot that acts as a centralized platform for tourism services in Zimbabwe. He launched the chatbot in August 2022 and has designed it so far to promote tourist destinations within Zimbabwe. With time, he aims at including booking services onto the chatbot. Prior to scooping the 2nd runner-up position at the Africa Youth In Tourism Innovation challenge 2022, Jeffrey was the inaugural winner of the Zimbabwe Youth in Tourism Innovation challenge of 2021 with the same idea, Trafiki Africa. |
Eugene Allotey (Winner 2021) Chief Operations Officer for Creative Bibini. |
As Creative Bibini’s Co-Founder, COO and Senior Project Manager, Eugene is responsible for defining and implementing a state-of-the-art information technology architecture, developing and implementing governance, project management processes while ensuring the successful deployment of services that meet Creative Bibini’s mission and client requirements. As a Senior Project Manager at Creative Bibini, Eugene approaches all projects with a strong strategic focus and an emphasis on team building while always maintaining a clear path towards achieving project goals. He is a true believer in building solutions that follow values and agile practices, mentoring and motivating teams to improve processes, eliminating team impediments, and facilitating meetings and decision-making processes. |
Nnenna Fakoya-Smith (1st Runner-Up 2021) Tourism Promoter and Visibility Strategist |
She is the Founder of Nene-Uwa Hub Ltd, a tourism company that promotes tourist destinations in Africa and sustainability for Tourism businesses and organizations through visibility strategies.
Nnenna is recognized as the Top 30 Tourism and Hospitality Influencers in Nigeria (2020) and Africa (2021). In 2022, she was recognized as the Top 30 Women in Tourism Nigeria. Nnenna has been recognized as one of the “Young Tourism Personalities of the Year” by the Nigeria Tourism Awards for hosting the first-ever Tourism Virtual Summit. She was nominated for the “Rising Star of the Year (Tourism)” and “Best Tourism Innovation Through Technology (Tourism Virtual Summit)” by the Pyne Awards. |
Gcina Nomsa Dlamini (2nd Runner-Up 2021) |
Gcina Nomsa Dlamini was named one of the Mail& Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans 2021, a winner in the category of Tourism & Hospitality. She is no stranger to the International community.
Her company Merchantry Worldwide, which means trade was founded on the basis of using travel as a catalyst for business and investment. She has contributed to the South African tourism industry, by exposing international visitors to the rich culture, history and diversity in the rural parts of the Country also known as ‘hidden gems. She is the Senior Export Manager for Europe & the UK at Wesgro, and was the runner up for the Africa Youth innovation challenge for 2021 in Kigali Rwanda. |
Aline Murekatete (Winner 2020) Founder, Spree Rwanda. Rwanda |
Aline Murekatete is Destination management specialist and certified Project manager.
She has been selected as one of Rwanda’s top 12 Tourism Incubation women-only cohorts and was the winner of the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Competition 2020. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Travel and Tourism Management from Kenya Utalli College, in collaboration with the University of Nairobi.one of the world’s most prestigious hospitality schools. |
