Two Ghanaians named among 10 finalists for Africa's Business Heroes of the Year
Two Ghanaians have been shortlisted among the ten finalists for this year's Africa's Business Heroes Award.
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The founder of Zeepay Ghana Limited, Andrew Takyi-Appiah, a fintech company and the Chief Executive Officer of Sommalife Limited, Christina Gyisun will compete with eight other finalists from South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, Morocco and Bennin.
At a two day summit and grand final event in Kigali, Rwanda on the theme A.I-African Innovation, Insight, Impact starting today November 23 to November 24,2023, they will compete for a share of US$1.5 million in grant funding after they have the opportunity to not only showcase their talent and business ideas but also inspire others to pursue entrepreneurship as a career option.
Prizes
The winner will receive $300,000, the first runner-up $250,000 and the second runner-up $150,000.
The other seven of the top 10 finalists each receive $100,000, and the remaining $100,000 is split among all finalists for additional training programs after the competition.
The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize Competition is a philanthropic initiative sponsored by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy aimed at supporting and inspiring the next generation of African entrepreneurs across all sectors and building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future of the continent.
Since 2019, it has been recognising 100 African entrepreneurs and committing to allocating grant funding, training programs and support for the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation, created the prize after he made his first trip to Africa in 2017 and was inspired by the energy and entrepreneurial potential of the young people he met.
Applicants
This year, 27,267 applications were received from across 54 African countries, after the ABH official opening of applications on March 3, 2023 and also organized several information sessions.
After going through several rounds of rigorous evaluation conducted by ABH judges, three months later on June 27, 2023 the top 50 finalists were announced, the top 20 on July 24 and on September 5, 2023 the top 10 finalists were announced in Kigali Rwanda during the Semi-finale.
The finalists are selected after demonstrating that they are visionary entrepreneurs who embody innovation, resilience, growth potential and impact on Africa
Zeepay and Sommalife
Zeepay is an award-winning fintech company whose core business is remittances, transferring remittances from partner mobile transfer operators to mobile money wallets ATMs, bank accounts and visa cards across 20 African countries.
Speaking to Christina Gyisun she said she hoped to win to inspire and impact more entrepreneurs to be innovative and contribute to the growth of the continent.
She said being named among the final ten is not only thrilling but an honour.
Sommalife is a social enterprise that uses cutting-edge software technology to create value for smallholder farmers and stakeholders.
Sommalife resources rural smallholder farmers to increase the quality and quantity of their commodities and connects them to global food and cosmetic manufacturers, who pay premium prices for their commodities.