The ceremony, held on Friday, November 21, in Lagos, brought together investors, industry leaders, media, and entrepreneurs to celebrate startups enhancing local industries and strengthening Africa’s footprint in global commerce. 

The winners, Dingpay, Aquatrack, and Growwr, were presented with cash prizes ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, alongside access to international suppliers and the infrastructure to scale beyond local markets.

Dingpay, a fintech innovator creating an “offline-first” digital wallet that consolidates bank cards, identity documents, tickets, and payments, claimed the $10,000 grand prize. 

Speaking on the win, co-founder Itohowo Udofia said, “We are honoured to be recognised as the winner of the Verto Award. This prize will enable us to scale faster, strengthen our operations, and unlock new market opportunities. It’s an incredible validation of our work, and we’re excited for what comes next.”

Aquatrack, an agritech startup providing AI-driven farm management tools for fish farmers, and Growwr, a platform enabling businesses to hire, manage, and pay pre-verified African tech talent efficiently, also walked away with commendable support to boost their growth.

The Verto Awards 2025 selection process, rigorous and thorough, involved a panel of distinguished judges assessing each startup’s innovation, scalability, feasibility, and potential market impact. 

The judging panel included Dotun Adekunle, COO/CTO of OPay; Ime Enang, CEO of The Conversationalist Limited; Omotayo Idowu, group head, Commerce & SME of Providus Bank; Soibi Ovia, partner at DAO Law; and Austin Okpagu, country manager, Verto Nigeria.

Ola Oyetayo, Verto’s co-founder and CEO, commented on the initiative: “This inaugural edition of the Verto Award has revealed just how much innovation, resilience, and global ambition exist within Africa’s early-stage startup ecosystem. 

“The calibre of founders we’ve seen this year has been exceptional. As these businesses grow, expand, and strengthen international ties, we remain committed to providing the financial infrastructure that helps turn their global ambitions into reality.”

Since its launch in February 2025, the Verto Award has aimed to spotlight startups with sector-agnostic potential, supporting them both financially and in gaining visibility, as well as granting access to the tools needed for cross-border growth.

The masterclass was designed for learners on the ALX Founders Academy. This comprehensive entrepreneurship program offers participants insights and tools to ideate, develop, and validate their innovative ideas into viable businesses.

The programme engages a vibrant community of peers who gain insights from successful African startup founders with live masterclasses such as this.

The master in this case, Chidi Afulezi, a product specialist, founder, and Managing Principal of redKola Digital Labs, led the session with an in-depth look into the key principles of product development and management.

Emphasizing the importance of discovering and validating the problems and crafting solutions that align with the needs and opportunities of the market.

“Entrepreneurs need to fall in love with the problem they are trying to solve. The entrepreneur’s journey is one of discovery. Discovering the problem, discovering the customers that have these problems, and discovering the solutions to the problem. With this discovery, they can build a product that is viable, feasible, and valuable,” Chidi remarked.

Reflecting on the event, Ruby Igwe, country general manager, ALX Nigeria, said,

“We organize impactful sessions like this masterclass to inspire our learners and give them the tools they need to succeed. Our goal is to ensure that they are equipped with the best resources and knowledge to create products that will shape the future of Africa’s economy.”

ALX Founder Academy has contributed to the success stories of many African startups, including Aquatrack, Luna, and Healthtracka, a digital health platform that raised $1.5m in 2022.