The Jack Ma Foundation is set to officially launch the second edition of the “Africa’s Business Heroes” (ABH) prize competition this evening. The program will enable African brightest minds to secure grant for their business ideas.
The applications is now open to African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries, as well as every sector, age group, and gender. Applications will also now be available in both French and English, according to the statement from the Foundation.
The ABH prize competition and show is organized by the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), the Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic program in Africa. ABH made its debut last year, and aims to identify, support and inspire the next generation of African entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their local communities, working to solve the most pressing problems, and building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future.
Every year, ten finalists will be selected to compete in a finale pitch competition show that will be broadcast online and across the continent. At this year’s grand finale, all ten finalists will share a prize pool of $1.5 million, up from $1 million last year, as well as gain access to the ANPI community of business leaders to leverage the community’s shared expertise, best practice, training and resources.
Last year, the prize received nearly 10,000 applications from 50 African countries. The 2019 top ten finalists pitched their business ideas to a prominent judging panel during a televised grand-finale show in Accra, Ghana. The finalists represented a variety of industries – including cloud kitchens, tech agribusiness, healthcare and pharma, e-commerce, consumer goods, and water supply solutions.
Applications will be open online from April 6th to June 9th 2020 with semi-finalists announced in August, and the top ten finalists for 2020 unveiled in September To apply and for more information about ANPI, please visit: africabusinessheroes.org and follow @africa_heroes on Twitter.