New opportunity for African Entrepreneurs to win $ 1.5 million through ABH competition 2022 opens
By Ange de la Victoire DUSABEMUNGU
The “Africa’s Business Heroes” (ABH) prize competition, one of the Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic programs spotlighting and celebrating Africa’s entrepreneurial talent, has opened applications for its fourth annual edition.
In line with the competitions activities, on Thursday, 24th March 2022, an info session was held in Kigali featuring last year’s outstanding Top 10 African entrepreneurs and their ABH journey among them were Rwanda’s Yvette Ishimwe, CEO at IRIBA Water Group Ltd and Christelle Kwizera, Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Access Water Rwanda.
Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Access Water Rwanda
During the event that was attended by a big number of young Africans who were eager to learn from the previous winners of the competition, Rwanda’s Yvette Ishimwe, CEO at IRIBA Water Group Ltd shared her business story and how she came to be among last year’s Top 10 finalists.
Ms. Ishimwe advised women to join this year’s ABH awards as an opportunity for them to raise
“First of all, because you’re special, really be authentic and tell your story. You will find that like women in all businesses, most of them have really inspiring stories behind them. Tell your story when people want to hear that story and that’s really what makes you stand out.” Ms. Ishimwe said.
You can read also: “Africa’s Business Heroes” Announces Top 10 Finalists for 2021, among them is Yvette Ishimwe from Rwanda
From selling cakes in salons, talking to women in markets to eventually building Moneymart company Ethel Mupambwa, CEO and Co-founder of Moneymart (Zimbabwe) added that to participate in ABH competition “You need to believe in yourself and have your confidence and be passionate about what you do and you’ll get through it”
The ABH show in Kigali was a very good moment to inspire young people who are participating in this Year’s competition.
Entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries, across every sector, age group, and gender are now able to submit their applications, in either French and English, for a chance to become one of the Top 10 finalists.
According to the competition organizers, the official slogan of the competition, “it is African Time”, is a bold call to action to all talented African entrepreneurs who are challenging stereotypes associated with “African time” – creating local impact and building a better, more inclusive future through their businesses.
At the grand finale later this year, 10 finalists will take the stage to present their businesses to a panel of business legends to win a share of the US$1.5 million grant. The journey to the Finale will also include access to a community of international leaders and innovators, industry experts, investors and accelerators, as well multi-disciplinary boot camps and training sessions to help the finalists take their businesses to the next level.
In an Interview with Ifedolapo Lawal, Co-founder at OYSTR shortly after participating in the info-session held in Kigali on Thursday confirmed that the event was a very good moment for the new people who want to participate in the next ABH Competition.
She said “My take from this event is knowing the qualities you need to have as an entrepreneur. We are applying to ABH, so listening to the past heroes or listening to the judge, really gives me clarity on some of the things that they look out for when they are looking at the application.”
With confidence Ms. Ifedolapo added that “Being energetic person, I have inbuilt confidence and I need to tap into what the lady can do and just believe that God is with me on the journey, and I’m going to win.”
Speaking to TOP AFRICA NEWS, Mr. Aphrodice Mutangana, CEO, Digital Africa and ABH Judge (2020) explained that in ABH competition, judges look at the idea first and the story behind it.
He explains that “In the idea you express what the problem you are trying to solve is and within that you show the problem that you are trying to solve by using numbers. Just for example, if you are like doing something in health sector, you can say, like, in this country, we only have 400 doctors, out of 12 million of people, it means we only have like 0.01% of doctors and you find that one doctor per 20,000 people is not enough, then my solution is in technology because 89% of the people they have cellphones that they can use to access the Health Services using their mobile phones.”
“So your idea shows the importance of why people should believe in you. And so you show what the issue is? What is the solution? What is the business model? How are you going to make money, how are you going to sustain, then you should have a team behind that can make that dream True. So that’s what the judges look for” Mutangana added.
ABH is part of the Jack Ma Foundation’s long-term commitment to help support and foster an inclusive and strong Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Over a 10-year period, ABH will recognize 100 African entrepreneurs.
Applications will be open online until 6th June 2022 with semi-finalists announced in October and the top ten finalists for 2022 unveiled in November. To apply and for more information about ABH, please visit: https://africabusinessheroes.org/en/register
Throughout the year, ABH will be partnering with a wide range of organizations to drive the call for applications, support African entrepreneurs and to spotlight their inspiring work. Partners include the African Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum, African Management Institute (AMI), Ashesi University, Briter Bridges, Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (MCISE), The Room – an initiative of African Leadership Group, RiseUp, VC4A and more.
As part of an expanded suite of offerings to ABH Finalists, many of these partners will provide training programs aimed at supporting finalists to scale their businesses. For example, select finalists will have the opportunity to participate in AMI’s Management Development Program. They will also be able to participate in an Investment Readiness Program designed and facilitated by VC4A, access “The Room” and talent sourcing benefits as well as attend key entrepreneurship events on the continent such as the South Africa Innovation Summit and the RiseUp Summit.
