The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) announced it has raised over $82 billion under its Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition to expand internet connectivity in Nigeria and other parts of the world.

Launched in 2021, P2C serves as a mobilization platform rallying governments, private sector, and civil society to support digital inclusion projects, especially in remote communities.

ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin made the announcement at Mobile World Congress 2026, noting that 2.2 billion people remain offline.

“Today’s milestone shows what’s possible when we pool our collective resources towards making connectivity universal and meaningful,” she said.

The initiative is on track to meet its $100 billion target by the end of 2026. Recent pledges include Mobily’s $1.715 billion investment in data centers, submarine cables, and 5G infrastructure, and Ooredoo Group’s $500 million investment in optical fibre networks across the MENA region.

These commitments directly support ITU’s goal of ensuring affordable, reliable internet access and digital skills for all. Since inception, P2C has secured over 1,000 pledges from 149 countries, covering infrastructure, policy modernization, and capacity-building.

By aligning existing projects with new ones, P2C enables governments, companies, and NGOs to showcase contributions and track progress toward universal connectivity.

ITU estimates that achieving meaningful global connectivity by 2030 could require $2.6–$2.8 trillion.

The agency urged both public and private sectors to scale up commitments to connect the quarter of the world’s population still unconnected.

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TECHDIGEST-

• Dutch water purification startup Desolenator wins top prize of $100,000 at the Supernova Challenge at GITEX GLOBAL

• $1 million in investments given to nine startups in the Oman Tech Fund Pitch Battle

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 14 October 2022: Desolenator, a Dutch startup that develops solar powered water purification technology, was announced the winner of the Supernova Challenge at North Star, securing the top prize of $100,000, with 13 category winners each taking home $8,000 in prize money from the competition.

The Supernova Challenge is the biggest start-up pitch competition in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia and, with $200,000 in cash prizes, a major highlight of North Star. This year’s Supernova Challenge attracted over 600 applications from game-changing startups from over 41 countries, who battled it out for the region’s biggest prize and the coveted North Star Dubai Supernova Champion title.

26 finalists from countries including Brazil, Bahrain, USA, Romania South Korea, Canada, Latvia, France, Vietnam, Nigeria, Kenya and Oman pitched in front of a judging panel of global icons and tech influencers, including David Cohen (co-founder of Techstars), Mike Butcher (Editor-at-large at Techcrunch), Karim Konsowa (Associate, Dubai Future District Fund), O.G Arabian Prince (co-founder of N.W.A), Natalie Colby (Managing Partner of Norrsken22), and Susan Marie (EVP of Strategy, Arizona Commerce Authority).

READ ALSO: NITDA, Nigerian Delegation, Start-Ups Get Deals, Praises as GITEX 2022 Ends

Alexei Levene, co-founder of Desolenator, accepted the grand prize money of $100,000, saying: “Winning this incredible prize really demonstrates how sustainability – and the world’s water crisis in particular – is now front and centre of global and regional agendas. This award also highlights how Dubai, and the UAE are taking a leadership position on the most intractable sustainability issues facing the world. We are delighted to win the North Star Supernova challenge and this prize money will contribute towards our work to tackle the global water crisis around the world.”

The winner of the Top MENA Start-up Award was Galactech from Oman, an entertainment e-sports company. Galactech CEO Houcem Maiza said: “GITEX GLOBAL is the biggest tech event in the world – so this is an incredible showcase for our company – but winning best MENA start-up is particularly important to us as this is our market.”

One of the Supernova judges, David Cohen, CEO and Co-founder of Techstars, said North Star Dubai and the Supernova Challenge are now essential highlights on the international tech calendar. “I love the fact that so many companies from around the world are here in Dubai and that the quality has been consistently so high. It has been an honour to judge such an amazing set of companies and a lot of fun.”

Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President, Events Management, Dubai World Trade Centre, said: “North Star Dubai and the Supernova Challenge offer a unique opportunity for international start-ups to take transformational steps in the growth journey. The Supernova Challenge continues to attract the leading innovators of the future, all of whom choose North Star Dubai as a platform for engaging with global investors and bringing their ideas to the Middle East region. The ideas showcased at North Star Dubai and the Supernova Challenge have the potential to make a significant impact on the digital economy.”

Oman Tech Fund Pitch Battle

At the Oman Technology Fund Pitch Battle, sponsored by Oman Technology Fund and the ITHCA Group, nine start-ups were selected from a shortlist of 30 finalists to win a total of up to $1 million in investments following their successful pitch to a panel of experts.

Three companies received investment cheques for $150,000 each. These were: online service provider Nashid; watercraft company Seavo and tele-therapy platform, SgharToon.

The companies each receiving investment cheques of $50,000 were: travel platform, Godoba; sports and recreation booking company Tamreen; peer-to-peer tutoring platform, Unitors; car spare parts platform, X Garage; 3D printing company, Binaa Express and real estate management company Mulk.

‘Move the World’ Innovation Cup

At the ‘Move the World’ Innovation Cup, sponsored by AHOY, three winners were selected by a jury of local, regional and international experts, investors and entrepreneurs to share credit worth $175,000. The Trailblazers’ Award was presented to CLROBUR from South Korea, the Future Innovators Award was won by Visual Camp also from South Korea and the Most Promising Start-up Team Award was presented to Biel Digital Glasses from Spain.

The Supernova Challenge category winners were:

• Overall Industry Pioneer Award in partnership with Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy: Biosolvit from Brazil, a biomass company that develops new materials from renewable sources.

• Fast Female Founder Award in Partnership with Sharjah Business Women’s Council: Playbook from Bahrain, a learning platform and membership network for women.

• Sustainability & ESG Innovator: Carbon Limit from the USA, a company focused on decarbonising the concrete industry.

• Fintech Innovator: Allink from South Korea, a tag-based payment and information transfer solution company.

• Blockchain Frontier Leader: WAM from Romania, a play-to-earn social gaming platform.

• X-Verse Builder (Meta, Web 3.0):  LlamaZOO from Canada, a platform that transforms data into new formats using 3D visualisation and XR technology.

• MarTech Innovator: CopyMonkey from Latvia, a company that uses AI to create SEO-optimised product descriptions for e-commerce businesses.

• Creative Economy Innovator: Popmii from France, a company that enables the creation of personalized 3D content.

• AI Innovator: Earable from Vietnam, a neuroscience company that creates brain-enhancing technology.

• Mobility & Smart Cities Innovator: this new category, was won by ShapShap from Nigeria, which provides on-demand delivery services.

• Top Africa Fast Award: featuring 20 entrants from across the continent, this new category was won by Melanin Kapital from Kenya, a company focused on providing green finance for SMEs in Africa.

• Top MENA Start-up Award: Galactech from Oman, an entertainment e-sports company.

• Youth Entrepreneur Award: There were two winners. Kanz Art from the UAE took the first place and $5,000 prize for its platform for artists while the second place went to virtual re ality company Wewer from India who won $3,000.

Expand North Star

Earlier this week, GITEX GLOBAL announced the expansion of North Star into Expand North Star, diversifying and capitalising on the rising international interest in the UAE start-up ecosystem. Hosted by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and set to take place from 10-12 May 2023 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Expand North Star shall present a new creative format to extend its engagements with venture capitalists, unicorns, scale-ups, start-ups, and key stakeholders in the tech ecosystem.

For more information visit : www.gitex.com and www.northstardubai.com.

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TECHDIGEST – Fintech Surge 2022, the MENA region’s leading finance and innovation event, is set to return to Dubai World Trade Centre from 10th-13th October 2022 where it will spark new disruption in the Middle East and North Africa’s burgeoning Fintech sector.

An integral part of GITEX Global 2022, the world’s biggest tech and startup event of the year which will feature over 5,000 tech and digital companies from 170 countries, the four-day event is poised to be the premier hub for Fintech entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, regulators, and will accelerate the growth of PayTech, WealthTech, InsureTech, and RegTech in the MENA region.

Fintech Surge 2022’s expert-led conference tracks, including the Digital Finance Summit and the CX Forum will explore the sector’s most pressing issues and potentially lucrative opportunities. Fintech Surge comes at an opportune time for the MENA region’s Fintech development; the UAE is currently home to 24% of all Fintechs in the region, with Fintechs accounting for 41% of the MENA region’s $864 million startup funding in the first quarter of 2021.

READ ALSO:NITDA powers Nigeria Pavilions at GITEX GLOBAL 2022 with nearly 30 exhibitors including Lagos

Here’s a rundown of the top innovators set to participate in Fintech Surge’s second edition.

Rasan

Saudi Fintech firm Rasan has transformed the Kingdom’s Insurtech industry, serving more than 8 million users since its launch in 2016. Rasan launched the Kingdom’s first digital insurance disruption Tameeni, which transformed the retail customer buying experience by introducing real-time online Motor Policy issuance in a few clicks.

Following Tameeni’s success, Rasan launched the country’s first Health Insurance platform, Tameeni Health, Awalmazad, the salvage and repossessed Motor car auction platform, and Treza, a Motor Insurance platform for leasing companies.

Mastercard

One of the world’s best-known brands, Mastercard, Fintech Surge’s Strategic Partner, has evolved into a multi-faceted technology company with a wide range of competencies and capabilities that benefit retailers, travel companies, governments, fintechs, and others. Visitors to Fintech Surge can learn how Mastercard is providing businesses with integrated consultancy services and solutions that are generating new business, driving loyalty, protecting digital systems, driving confidence, and creating new opportunities beyond payments.

Geidea

Now one of the leading fintechs in the region, Geidea is set to launch Geidea POS for Restaurants, a new flagship integrated point of sale solution catering to the F&B sector in the UAE at Fintech Surge. Available for full dining, cafes, quick service, food trucks and cloud kitchens, the ‘affordable, integrated’ POS solution helps run all aspects of a business, including restaurant operations, payment integrations, customer understanding and staff management. The fully integrated system is compatible with all Geidea’s Go Smart solutions or any other payments solutions.

Tap Payments

Fintech Surge 2022’s Platinum Sponsor Tap Payments will bring its expert leadership to the event, who will discuss global regulatory trends, highlight payment innovation in the region and explore the growth of Fintech in Saudi Arabia.

“In the course of onboarding over 100,000 merchants, we have seen the MENA region turn into a flourishing ecosystem of early-stage startups and SMBs,” said Ali Abulhasan, Co-Founder and CEO of Tap Payments. “This is an incredible attribute to the government and local initiatives that keep drawing attention to the development of startups. Our goal is to continue to support startups and the innovation they bring to core markets and to create an ecosystem that helps them scale easily. I am always keen to participate in industry-leading events like Fintech Surge and be involved in competitive pitching activities like the Supernova challenge, which offers more opportunities to showcase innovative startups.”

BIO-IDZ

BIO-IDZ’s digital payment situation is tailor-made for innovative and imaginative contactless wearables. Its next-gen smart wearable tokenisation platform #bpay links a user’s credit and debit cards with everyday fashion-tech accessories that feature payment functionality. BIO-IDZ also has dual interface biometric cards which provide additional security to the user.

startAD’s Corporate Sprint Accelerator
A market access accelerator for global startups that brings cutting-edge technology innovation to the UAE, startAD’s 9th Corporate Sprint Accelerator will host a pitch-day at Fintech Surge on 11th October, where all 10 startups of the CSA9 cohort will be pitching and showcasing their solutions. The CSA was launched in partnership with Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative and offers cutting-edge Fintech startups a platform to put their “best foot forward” in the GCC region by preparing them to benefit from the region’s regulatory framework, providing access to investment opportunities, opening doors to business deals and partnerships and building their network in the global financial services and startup ecosystem.

Telr

Through one simple integration, Telr provides access to every payment method it offers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Apple Pay, PayPal, SADAD, Mada and STCPay. With its one-stop shop mindset, Telr provides comprehensive solutions for the e-commerce world, with a large selection of financial and business services including payment links, QR Codes payments, digital invoicing, Buy Now Pay Later service, a merchant financing program, and an easy-to-use tool for creating an online store in five minutes.

Refinitiv

One of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, Refinitiv serves more than 40,000 institutions in approximately 190 countries, providing information, insights, and technology that drive innovation and performance in global markets. Its 160-year Reuters heritage of integrity enables customers to make critical decisions with confidence, while a unique open platform, best-in-class data, and cutting-edge technology bring greater opportunity to its customers.

Fintech Surge is co-located with seven other specialised events taking place alongside GITEX Global 2022.

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