Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) competition, a flagship philanthropy program launched by the Jack Ma Foundation to highlight and encourage African entrepreneurs, has chosen founders from Tanzania, Kenya, and Egypt as winners.
The goal of Africa’s Business Heroes prize competition is to encourage and assist the next generation of African business leaders across all industries who are creating a more equitable and sustainable economy for the continent’s future.
More than 21,000 applications were submitted for the competition this year, with participants coming from all 54 African nations.
Elia Timotheo of the Tanzanian agri-tech startup East Africa Fruits received $300,000; Tesh Mbaabu of the Kenyan retail-tech startup MarketForce won $250,000, and Nadia Gamal El Din of the Egyptian maternity support platform Rahet Bally received $150,000. These three individuals were the overall winners.
The remaining finalists will get US$100,000 in prize money, and the top 10 finalists will each receive an extra US$10,000 for immersive training programs and community outreach initiatives.
Ten finalists are featured in the ABH Prize competition and presentation each year as they present their companies in an effort to earn a portion of US$1.5 million in grant money.
ABH will honor 100 African entrepreneurs over a ten-year period and pledge to provide grant cash, training programs, and assistance for the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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