Africa Business Heroes (2019)
Africa's Business Heroes supports talented African entrepreneurs through its annual Prize competition. Each year, ten exceptional finalists are selected to a share of USD 1.5 million in grant funding, with the top winner receiving up to USD 300,000.
The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) is a $10 million grant program designed to support 100 African entrepreneurs over the next 10 years (2019-2029), with a total of $1 million allocated annually through a highly competitive pitch competition.
As the lead regional partner of the Jack Ma Foundation for the first year of this transformative program in 2019, Nailab led the design and implementation of the program across the African continent, organizing the prize challenge, sourcing participants, and coordinating key stakeholders to ensure the success of this initiative.
Top Winners:
- 1st Place: Temie Giwa-Tubosun (Nigeria) – Founder & CEO, LifeBank ($250,000)
- 2nd Place: Dr. Omar Sakr (Egypt) – Founder & CEO, Nawah-Scientific ($150,000)
- 3rd Place: Christelle Kwizera (Rwanda) – Founder, Water Access Rwanda ($100,000)
Other Finalists (Each received $65,000):
- Mumm (Egypt)
- Thrive Agric (Nigeria)
- J-Palm (Liberia)
- UZURI K&Y (Rwanda)
- Black Swan (Nigeria)
- DrugStoc (Nigeria)
- Afrikrea (Ivory Coast)
Program Impact – Year One:
- 10,000 applications received
- 50 African countries reached
- 10 finalists selected
- $1,000,000 invested in the startups