Prize clocks ten with dollar goodies intact
Every year, it celebrates 20 African entrepreneurs, aged 22 years and younger, each of whom has a chance to win a shared prize of $100,000. The grand prize winner receives $25,000, the 1st runner-up $15,000, 2nd runner-up $12,500, and every finalist, $2,500.
In addition to the cash prize,
selected entrepreneurs will join 120 previous winners and become Anzisha
Fellows, receiving business consulting support and coaching services by a team
of industry experts. They also gain access to the Young Entrepreneurs Fund – a
catalytic matching fund designed to strengthen the credibility of very young
entrepreneurs through investment.
“It’s been an exciting 10-year
journey with some of the continent’s brightest and youngest entrepreneurs. With
the help of key partners and those who share in our vision, we’ve been able to
support and celebrate very young entrepreneurs who represent the diversity of
the African continent; entrepreneurs who tackle youth unemployment with vigour
and courage beyond their years,” said Melissa Mbazo-Ekpenyong, Deputy Director,
Anzisha Prize.
To celebrate the decennial, the
Anzisha Prize has planned five regional events across the continent in South Africa,
Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Kenya. The events end in October with a forum in
Nairobi, Kenya where the 2020 winners will be announced.
Each event is designed to
catalyze conversations around youth entrepreneurship and to gather key
stakeholders within the entrepreneurship landscape to collaborate with and
support these young entrepreneurs.
“The Anzisha Prize has grown to
become a holistic and comprehensive prize program that celebrates, nurtures,
and advocates on behalf of Africa’s young job creators,” says Daniel Hailu,
Regional Head Eastern and Southern Africa Programs, Mastercard Foundation.
“Ensuring young entrepreneurs have a clear pathway to learn and succeed is a
core component of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, and
we encourage entrepreneurs, especially young women to apply.”
Young African entrepreneurs
between the ages of 15-22 years old, who are running job generative businesses,
are encouraged to apply before 31 March 2020.
Past winners of the prize include
2019 grand prize winner, education entrepreneur, Yannick Kimanuka
(http://bit.ly/2STVncc) from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Yannick grew
up in the war-torn North Kivu eastern Province of DRC where she saw the effect
that conflict had on schools in her community and vowed to empower children by
increasing access to quality education. By the age of 20, Yannick founded KIM’s
School Complex – a nursery and primary school which aims to improve the
education of young children in her community.
As the program continues to
influence and inspire young people to seek entrepreneurship as a career path,
the road ahead is a promising one. To encapsulate the last 10 years of the
program, the Anzisha Prize has chosen the word 'Sankofa' in the Ghanaian Twi
language which means ‘we have the capacity to revisit the past and extract
knowledge and wisdom that we need to remake the future.’
Entrepreneurs are advised to
download the application guide or apply for the prize at anzishaprize.org/apply.
For more information on the
Anzisha Prize, to apply, and to nominate an entrepreneur, please visit the
Anzisha Prize website: www.anzishaprize.org/apply
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/anzishaprize
If you’d like to attend the
Anzisha regional events, please email prize@anzishaprize.org to share your
interest.
The first event takes place in
Cape Town, South Africa on 3 March 2020.
Comments
Post a Comment