Nigeria's Publiseer up for AppsAfrica Innovation award

The list of finalists, says the organisers, was produced by an independent panel of industry experts including media, investors and leaders from the tech ecosystem. 

Publiseer was a finalist in the ‘Media & Entertainment’ category for an award ceremony that generally recognises mobile technology around the continent. Other finalists in the same category include Vodacom South Africa's music app and Ethiopia's 3D game Kukulu.

Entries came from Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Sao Tome & Principe, Mauritania, Liberia and other countries.

Last year, Nigerian music app Boomplay Music won the Best African App category. This year, some of the Nigerian finalists include Farmcrowdy in the AgriTech category, Flutterwave in the Changing Africa category, Paylater in the FinTech category and ScholarX in the Social Impact category.

The basic service offered by Publiseer is without charge and sees the company distribute and monetise books, audiobooks, songs and music videos of independent African artists using hundreds of digital stores in 100 countries. It recently announced a partnership with YouTube Music. 

The company's CEO Chidi Nwagu has said the platform was founded because African artists have too little to spend on promoting their work after publishing. "That is where Publiseer comes in," he said. "We are the publishing company for the third world."

This year the annual AppsAfrica Innovation Awards received over 300 submissions from 39 countries. 

"Not surprisingly a majority of entries were received from Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya; however, many entries were received from smaller markets including Malawi, Sao Tome & Principe, Mauritania and Liberia, illustrating the growth of innovation across the continent," says a statement from the organisers.

Winners of the award receive "industry recognition, global publicity, and networking with 300-plus industry peers at the Awards party in Cape Town" at an event to take place on 12 November, a day before [the tech and telecoms event] AfricaCom.