Meet Africa’s latest business heroes

The 2021 Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) (www.AfricaBusinessHeroes.org/en/) winners have been announced.

ABH is a flagship philanthropic programme established by the Jack Ma Foundation to help foster an inclusive and vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa.

The annual competition, now in its third year, shines a spotlight on talented African entrepreneurs who are working to make a difference in their communities and helping to build a more sustainable, inclusive future.

ABH is grassroots-oriented as well as age, gender, language and sector agnostic.

This year, over 12,000 applications were received from all 54 countries in Africa. The finalists were chosen after several rounds of rigorous evaluation conducted by over 230 judges. They were selected after demonstrating that they are visionary entrepreneurs who embodied innovation, resilience, growth potential and impact on Africa.

Hundreds of viewers from 49 countries worldwide registered to watch the live online grand finale and visit the virtual exhibition, following the finalists as they pitched their businesses to a final panel of esteemed judges: Ibukun Awosika, Founder-CEO, The Chair Centre Group; Victor Williams, NBA Africa CEO; and Joe Tsai, Executive Vice-Chairman, Alibaba Group.

At the end of the pitching, Khadija Mohamed Elbedweihy of Egypt, Founder, PraxiLabs (www.praxilabs.com) won the top prize of $300,000. She was followed by Ikenna Nzewi of Nigeria, Co-Founder-CEO, Releaf (www.releaf.africa), who won $250,000. And in third place with $150,000 was Navalayo Osembo-Ombati of Kenya, Co-Founder-CEO, Enda Athletic (www.EndaSportswear.com).

“I’m very humbled to be named Africa’s Business Hero. This competition has been an incredible journey. I’ve learnt important lessons from each judge and from my fellow talented entrepreneurs. I hope this win inspires many young Africans to believe we’ve what it takes to make an impact where we are. It’s been a challenging year for many businesses, but challenges are key to build our resilience. PraxiLabs is solving pressing issues around education and training and we will remain focused and determined to change how Africa learns and teaches science, one virtual lab at a time,” the winner, Elbedweihy, reacted.

The other finalists in the top ten will each receive $100,000 in prize funding and an additional $10,000 will be allocated to each finalist for a training program to be hosted in Alibaba Group’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China.

Ghirmay Abraham, Founder, Aptech Africa (aptechafrica.com), Uganda; Oghenetega Iortim, Founder, Gricd (Gricd.com), Nigeria; Yvette Ishimwe, Founder-CEO, IRIBA Water Group (www.IRIBWaterGroup.com), Rwanda; Charlot Magayi, Founder-CEO, Mukuru Clean Stoves (mukurustoves.org), Kenya; Chidi Nwaogu, Co-Founder-CEO, Publiseer (Publiseer.net), Nigeria; Violet Amoabeng, Founder-CEO, Skin Gourmet (SkinGourmet.com), Ghana; and Ketshephaone Jacob, Founder-CEO, The Bulb World (https://bit.ly/3Fu2nU4), Botswana are the other finalists.

The finale judges were impressed with all the finalists and their businesses.

“This is the third time I’ve been a grand finale judge for Africa’s Business Heroes, meeting many exceptional businesswomen and men from across Africa. Each year, I’m struck by their sheer talent and the commitment to developing creative, innovative solutions to the challenges we face on the continent. It truly is Africa’s time and these outstanding entrepreneurs are the ones who embody its future of growth and relevant solution-based innovation,” Awosika said.

“I want to congratulate the winners of this year’s Africa’s Business Heroes.  Entrepreneurship, like sport, is a transformative force for positive social change and economic growth.  All of the Africa’s Business Heroes are inspiring leaders who are actively pursuing their passions and helping Africa take its rightful place on the world stage. I look forward to engaging with all of them as they continue their entrepreneurial journeys on the continent,” Williams said.

“This year’s finalists came from inspiring personal stories that are invaluable not only to their teams and communities but to many would-be entrepreneurs across the continent who are thinking about pursuing this path. The kind of talent and passion I saw among this year’s Africa’s Business Heroes is unrivaled around the world. They are innovators and problem-solvers, but most importantly, they have a driving sense of mission and social impact. Congratulations to all of our winners and we look forward to seeing what you accomplish next,” Tsai said.

The Africa’s Business Heroes TV show will air in 2022.

It will follow the finalists in their exciting journey to the grand finale and features their on-stage pitches as well as behind the scenes moments.

The award ceremony from the 2021 finale will soon be available to watch on the ABH official YouTube (https://bit.ly/3oF8j5R).

Applications for ABH 2022 will open in early 2022.

For news and updates, visit africabusinessheroes.org, subscribe to the newsletter and follow @africa_heroes (https://bit.ly/3DuECdZ) on Twitter.

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