People & Lifestyle
YAKWETU Named first-ever Winner from Africa, and Creative Industry, at WIPO Global Awards!
Kenyan Entertainment Technology Start-up – YAKWETU™ Online Limited, has today been honoured as 1 of the 7 Winners of the 2023 WIPO Global Awards, at the 64th General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Now in its second year, the WIPO Global Awards recognises small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from around the globe, that are successfully commercialising their IP-backed innovation and creativity in an exceptional manner, that also improves society.
YAKWETU™ has emerged as 1 of the 7 Winners from 548 Submissions and 25 Finalists – from 16 Countries and from Industries like creative, food, green technology, health & more, for its first service https://app.mymovies.africa.
“YAKWETU™ in Kiswahili means both ‘Of Us’ and ‘For Us’. We chose this Name, because it Articulates our Purpose of Making Available digital Content for Entertainment & Education – from Africans, to Africans; while Protecting it from its greatest Threat – Piracy, and Monetising it Equitably for the Creators. YAKWETU™ is deeply honoured to be the first African company, and first from the Creative Industry globally, to receive this Award from WIPO”, said Mike Strano, Co-Founder & Chief Operations Officer, at the Ceremony. “I would like to Thank the thousands of Customers on our first service – MyMovies.Africa™ in The Motherland & her Diaspora, our Content Creators & Partners for believing in us, our very talented & dedicated Staff, our generous Board of Advisors & Directors and my Co-Founder – Trushna Buddhdev-Patel. To you all I say Ubuntu – We are, because You are. Asanteni sana.”
This announcement follows an October 2021 recognition, when YAKWETU™ was 1 of 5 (from over 200 applications) admitted to the 2nd Cohort in Kenya of the Next INnovation with JApan (NINJA) Accelerator; which concluded with the Launch of their Fundraising in January 2022.
WIPO Global Award winners will receive a customised 1:1 mentoring package to bolster their IP strategies, including funding facilitation, partnership opportunities and publicity support.
