African entrepreneurs have the power to transform Africa

Whether it's ambitious and daring start-ups, technology pioneers transforming revolutionary ideas into viable solutions, or trailblazers disrupting their sectors, the African entrepreneurial ecosystem is thriving. Once seen as a solution to the lack of jobs, entrepreneurship is now attracting more and more young people who want to solve a variety of problems and are achieving tremendous results. Entrepreneurship creates much more than jobs: it is a powerful engine of social and economic transformation in Africa.

The Jack Ma Foundation launched the Africa's Business Heroes (ABH) competitionin 2019 in recognition of potential of African entrepreneurs as catalysts for the continent's social and economic growth. ABH is a philanthropic initiative sponsored by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy aimed at supporting and inspiring African entrepreneurs across all sectors who are building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the continent's future.

Since then, we have worked with entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and leveraged our resources to highlight, support and promote Africa's most remarkable entrepreneurs.

Over a ten-year period, the ABH Competition and ABH Show will annually feature ten African finalists who will showcase their businesses, share a USD 1.5 million Prize and benefit from valuable mentoring opportunities , networking and training.

Thus, the ABH is much more than just a competition. In addition to the cash reward, the ABH course has great value for participants: it offers them many benefits, including invaluable contributions from professionals, mentoring from leading business figures, targeted Entrepreneurship Small Business training programs and practices, and opportunities to gain global recognition and exposure.

What’s in store for the fifth editionof the ABH

2023 marks the halfway point of our ten-year commitment to this competition since its launch in 2019. Given the success of previous editions and the interest generated by the ABH in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are delighted to the idea of ​​generating this year an even more diverse and broader commitment from the community of African entrepreneurs.

Many investors, business leaders and other professionals have been essential to our success. Leading business figures including Ibukun Awosika, founder of The Chair Center Group; Jack Ma, founder of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Group; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet Group; Lucy Peng, Co-Founder and Partner of Alibaba Group, Advisor Emeritus of Lazada Group; Joe Tsai, executive vice president of Alibaba Group; and Victor Williams, CEO of NBA Africa, were part of the Grand Final jury. They provided us with crucial assistance, not only in evaluating the finalists, but beyond that in inspiring entrepreneurs through our Show. At all levels of the competition, our judges help us identify and support African entrepreneurial talent and we are grateful to them for their valuable contribution. This year, we are delighted to welcome even more veterans as mentors, trainers and judges to support our candidates on their ABH journey.

Over the past four years, our ABH community has grown thanks to the active participation of our Heroes, who support each other and share their experiences. A tremendous synergy also drives community members across the continent. This year, we plan to redouble our efforts to provide training and networking opportunities for our Heroes by launching a peer-to-peer training series called ScaleUp, a quarterly series of masterclasses presented by ABH Heroes on topics relevant to entrepreneurs . Following the success of our Heroes gathering in Kigali last year, we also plan to strengthen networking opportunities through a Summit. We will expand our Local Connect Lead program, which allows ABH Heroes to promote engagement at the local level. We believe that all of these initiatives will help create more concrete value for our members.

Finally, we are preparing the organization of a new exceptional Grand Final as part of the Summit scheduled for November 2023. The latter will offer masterclasses led by personalities from the business world, exciting round tables, exhibition stands exhibition, breakout sessions and, of course, the Grand Finale which will mark our 5th anniversary. This will be a true celebration of the African entrepreneurial ecosystem and the impact of the ABH, and undoubtedly an event that we will be delighted to share.

Article by Zahra Baitie-Boateng, Partnerships and Programs Manager, Africa’s Business Heroes

Source: https://www.jeuneafrique.com/