Five Nigerian legal tech startups have been selected among 33 African finalists for the 2018 edition of the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law’s (HiiL) Innovating Justice Challenge. This prestigious program is designed to support leading justice entrepreneurs globally, aiming to enhance access to justice for the majority.

The 33 African finalists represent a diverse group of countries, including Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. These startups were rigorously chosen based on several key criteria: their innovation's potential impact, scalability, sustainability, uniqueness, and the strength of their team.

The five Nigerian startups making the cut are particularly focused on addressing critical justice-related issues. In4Justice is an initiative aimed at providing speedy and easily accessible settlement for small claims disputes. FarmworkerzApp offers a digital platform to connect vetted farm-hands with potential farms for hiring, thereby eliminating potential conflicts between workers and farm owners. Legal Support LITE provides free legal advice to small businesses through USSD and interactive voice response based solutions. Gavel, a civic tech startup, focuses on tracking criminal cases and compiling police brutality complaints. Lastly, NoMore is an application designed to allow female students in Nigerian university campuses to report instances of sexual harassment and rape.

Beyond Nigeria, other notable African representatives include HeLawyer from Benin, Kompliance from Ghana, and several from Kenya such as Btrack Global, Loyasoft, Uliza Wakili, Wakili Mkononi, Wasilianahub, and iCourtroom. Sierra Leone is represented by Fixsolution, while South Africa boasts Epoq Legal, Boabob, Masenze Strategic Advisors, Buyisa Soul and Spiritual Centre, and Portable Lawyer. Nusu Hub from Tanzania, and a significant number from Uganda including Bataka Court Model, Tunga Innovations, Yunga, Via, BitShelter, JusticeBot, LegIT, Prison Officer Legal Empowerment (POLE) Model, Zzimba Games (ZG), and Muchomo Moments also made the list. Zimbabwe is represented by PhoenixCMS and IPassist-zw.

All 33 African finalists, alongside other selected innovators from countries like Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, are slated to participate in local pitch and training events in September. During these events, winners will be chosen and subsequently provided with invaluable mentoring and seed-funding to further develop and scale their justice innovations.