The 2020 Africa’s Business Heroes prize competition, a flagship philanthropic programme established by the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, has shortlisted the top 50 finalists from stage one of the selection process.
The 50 entrepreneurs will continue their journey in the competition, for a chance to become one of the ten entrepreneurs that will compete in the grand finale later this year.
The top 50 finalists were selected from a pool of over 22,000 applications received from all 54 African nations. The diversity of the finalist roster reflects the aim of Africa’s Business Heroes to be inclusive and grassroots, providing entrepreneurs from all over Africa with a platform to showcase their talent and business ideas, regardless of nationality, industry, age or gender.
The 2020 50 finalists come from 21 countries (Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe) and eighteen sectors, such as agriculture, AI, Big Data, business services, construction, education, engineering, e-commerce, fashion, financial services, healthcare, ICT, logistics, manufacturing, management services, retail, renewable energy, and transportation.
The average age of the cohort is 37 with the youngest candidate aged 22 and the eldest aged 64. Fifty per cent of the candidates are female – a 24 per cent increase from the debut competition last year, and 32 per cent are francophone, reflecting this year’s competition opening applications in French for the first time.
Before stepping into the second round of selection, which will determine the top 20 finalists, the selected entrepreneurs will be invited to join an exclusive virtual boot camp hosted by the ABH team on Tuesday.
The selection process to spotlight the 2020 ABH finalists will continue throughout the summer. Following round 2 interviews and the semi-finale pitch, the top 20 and top 10 finalists will be announced in August and September respectively, culminating in a grand finale show later this year, where the top 10 finalists will take the stage to pitch business legends – including Jack Ma – for a chance to win their share of a $1.5 million prize pool.
