Afriwise has bagged the 2020 Netherlands-African Business Council (NABC) Doing Business in Africa Award for its pioneering work in the legal services sector.
Afriwise is recognised for its innovative law-tech solution, which revolutionises how organisations do business in Africa through improving access to quality and essential legal information that has historically been extremely difficult and expensive to source. Particular recognition was given to Afriwise’s innovative and collaborative business model.
“We are truly honoured to have received this award. We believe that collaboration, sharing knowledge, joining forces and community building are essential to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We work with over 100 law firms across Africa, making this is the largest collaborative effort ever undertaken in the African professional services sector. Winning this award is not just a monumental achievement for Afriwise, but more so for all of our contributing partners and experts in Africa. Our success depends on them, as Afriwise taps into the legal knowledge of these partners to allow us to connect organisations with the business-critical legal information they need to achieve their goals. We hope that winning this award will put all of our partners in front of the Dutch business community,” said Afriwise founder and CEO, Steven De Backer.
Organisations from across industries entered the awards and those shortlisted went through two rounds of public voting. Afriwise was one of the three finalist companies with the largest proportion of votes, who were required to prepare a pitch describing how they meet the three pillars of the award: innovative, sustainable and inclusive. Listen to Afriwise’s pitch here.
Afriwise is relied on by multinational firms such as IBM, Vodacom, Bolloré, General Electric, Deloitte, and Bain & Company, and many others who have adopted the innovative solution to streamline their business operations.
Afriwise’s online subscription-based solution provides businesses with the African legal and regulatory information they need when they need it. As part of its standard offering, if a subscriber wishes to find out information such as if a restraint of trade can be enforced in the DRC, or what constitutes copyright infringement in Nigeria, he or she can simply log on to the platform and instantly find answers to their questions. In addition, Afriwise works with individual organisations to create tailored offerings to meet their specific needs. Subscribers also have access to tech tools that complement the legal knowledge, as well as direct access to top in-country legal experts, who are all vetted. This is the first time that this has been done in Africa.
Afriwise’s unique collaboration model ensures that revenue is shared with in-country lawyers who contribute to the content on the platform.
Watch the award ceremony here.
Additional resources:
Afriwise recently launched a free resource hub. On the platform, users can find multiple resources such as recorded conversations with top in-country practitioners in 11 countries around major legal developments in their countries in 2020 and what is expected for 2021. Access it now.
Learn from Afriwise’s subscribers how they are using our platform here.
Review Afriwise’s prestigious list of awards, including the African Legal Award’s highly-competitive Innovation Award and the Africa Global Funds Best Regulatory Hosting Platform Award.