EPF Tech Awards Promotional Image
Source: TechFinancials
On 25 October 2025, the Empire Partner Foundation will host the 3rd Annual EPF Tech Awards at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. It is a flagship moment for South Africa’s innovators and a vital stage for Black tech entrepreneurs aiming for investor attention and national recognition.
What Are the EPF Tech Awards?
The Empire Partner Foundation created the EPF Tech Awards to recognize South Africa’s most promising young tech innovators who use digital solutions to address the country’s most urgent socio-economic challenges. This prestigious event showcases talent and technology from tech-based businesses across all nine provinces of South Africa, providing opportunities for recognition, exposure, and connections within the ICT sector. Winners gain access to mentorship, funding opportunities, and media visibility that can transform their businesses overnight, as previous winner TechFinancials News experienced after receiving the Tech Media Excellence Award.
EPF Tech Week (13-17 October 2025) surrounded the awards ceremony with workshops, pitch sessions, and networking events designed to connect founders with investors, corporates, and ecosystem builders. The week featured AI & Data Innovation Day, Digital Education Day, Governance & Compliance Tech showcases, Community Engagement Platforms, and spotlights on startups and tech visionaries, all hosted at EPF headquarters at 35 Ferguson Road, Illovo, Sandton.
Why October 2025 Matters for Black Tech Entrepreneurs
This year’s awards arrive at a pivotal moment for South Africa’s tech ecosystem, as EPF CEO Joanna Govender emphasizes that the awards “aren’t just about recognising success, they’re about showcasing the creativity behind locally built technologies with the potential to scale globally”. The awards create a powerful platform for startups, corporates, and investors to connect, collaborate, and accelerate impact-driven solutions while shining a spotlight on local talent that inspires the next generation of tech leaders and drives inclusive growth across the country.
The awards emphasize social impact and recognize categories including Tech Visionary of the Year, Start-Up of the Year, Social Impact Award, AI & Data Excellence of the Year, FinTech Innovator Award, and Woman in Tech Award. Across its 10-year journey, EPF has trained more than 12,000 youth in 19 African countries, supported over 400 township microenterprises, and hosted 40+ hackathons, proving how purpose-driven innovation can shape inclusive economies.
Founder of EPF, Nathan Mariemuthu. Source: EPF
Read also: FunTimes Magazine | Black Entrepreneurs Shaking Up The Tech Industry
Who Is Competing and How to Find the Black Entrepreneurs and Finalists
Here’s how to track the Black entrepreneurs competing:
- Check the EPF Tech Awards official page at empirepartnerfoundation.org/techawards.html regularly for shortlist updates and category announcements
- Follow EPF’s LinkedIn showcase page at za.linkedin.com/showcase/epf-tech-awards and Instagram account @epftechhub, where they spotlight finalists and share founder stories
- Monitor TechFinancials and other South African tech publications for preview coverage and finalist profiles
- Search hashtags like #EPFTechAwards and #EPFTechWeek2025 on social platforms to catch real-time updates, as EPF invites innovators, media, and the public to follow the conversation online
When finalists are announced, look for their company websites, pitch decks, and founder LinkedIn profiles to gain direct insight into their innovation and traction.
Award Winner: Re-Tec, Souce: EPF
Read also: FunTimes Magazine | Top Black Leaders in Tech
What To Watch For
Strong entrants typically demonstrate these signals:
- Measurable impact: Clear metrics showing how many customers they serve, jobs they’ve created, or problems they’ve solved, numbers that align with EPF’s mission to address socio-economic challenges through digital solutions
- Product-market fit and local adoption: Evidence that real users pay for and depend on their solution, especially in underserved markets where innovation can drive inclusive growth
- Community roots and scalability potential: Deep understanding of township or rural customer needs, combined with a business model that can grow beyond initial markets to achieve global impact, as EPF emphasizes African innovation that is “ready to compete and win on the world stage”
How Readers Can Learn More and Get Involved
Take these concrete steps to engage with the awards and support Black tech entrepreneurs:
- Attend or watch: The awards ceremony takes place on 25 October 2025 at 6:00 PM at the Sandton Convention Centre, or watch for livestream announcements on EPF social channels
- Follow EPF channels: Connect with the EPF Tech Awards LinkedIn page (za.linkedin.com/showcase/epf-tech-awards) and Empire Partner Foundation social accounts for finalist spotlights and winner announcements
- Sign up for updates: Join the EPF mailing list through their official website (empirepartnerfoundation.org) to receive ecosystem news and opportunity alerts
- Connect with winners: After the ceremony, reach out to winning founders on LinkedIn to congratulate them, explore partnerships, or share their work with your network
- Share and amplify: When you discover a compelling Black founder or startup, share their story on your platforms using #EPFTechAwards. The visibility creates opportunities
Attendees of the EPF Tech Awards. Source: EPF
Further Reading and Resources
These curated sources will deepen your understanding and keep you connected:
- EPF Tech Awards official page (empirepartnerfoundation.org/techawards.html): Foundational information about categories, criteria, and past winners; use this to understand what the judges value
- TechFinancials EPF preview (techfinancials.co.za/2025/09/24/africa-counts-down-to-the-3rd-annual-epf-tech-awards): Detailed coverage of Tech Week programming and awards logistics published 24 September 2025; bookmark for event schedules
- TechFinancials awards announcement (techfinancials.co.za/2025/04/29/empire-partner-foundation-announces-2025-epf-tech-awards): Comprehensive overview of award categories and EPF’s mission published 29 April 2025
- EPF Tech Week registration (luma.com/cv4v4hzg): Register to attend Tech Week sessions from 13-17 October 2025 in person or virtually
- EPF LinkedIn showcase (za.linkedin.com/showcase/epf-tech-awards) — real-time finalist announcements and founder profiles; follow for multimedia content and community conversations
- Empire Partner Foundation homepage (empirepartnerfoundation.org) — broader context about EPF’s mission, funding programs, and impact beyond the annual awards
Your Next Step
The EPF Tech Awards offer more than entertainment; they map the future of African innovation. Whether you’re an investor seeking the next breakout startup, a founder learning from peers, or simply someone who wants to support Black entrepreneurs, this event deserves your attention.
Their journeys will teach you what’s working in African tech right now and where the ecosystem, built on EPF’s 10-year track record of training 12,000+ youth and supporting 400+ township microenterprises, is heading next. Share the names of promising founders you discover, nominate stellar innovators for 2026, and use these learnings to strengthen your own work or investment thesis.
Anand Subramanian is a freelance photographer and content writer based out of Tamil Nadu, India. Having a background in Engineering always made him curious about life on the other side of the spectrum. He leapt forward towards the Photography life and never looked back. Specializing in Documentary and Portrait photography gave him an up-close and personal view into the complexities of human beings and those experiences helped him branch out from visual to words. Today he is mentoring passionate photographers and writing about the different dimensions of the art world.
