As an initiative to support entrepreneurs in Africa that are making a meaningful impact, Africa’s Business Heroes selected the top 50 finalists to participate in Africa’s Business Heroes 2021 prize competition. These finalists represented 16 countries from all over the continent.
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20 finalists have now been selected as the competition proceeds to advanced stages. Among these are 3 Ugandans; Ghirmay Abraham – Managing Director at Aptech Africa Limited, Emmanuel Emodek – Co-Founder and MD at ChapChap Africa; and Daniel Mukisa – a Co-Founder and the current CEO of Ridelink.
The 20 finalists from 11 African countries have been chosen for their ability to build inclusive business models that can create jobs and economic opportunities for the continent. They will proceed to compete for the award of $1.5 million where they will also receive mentorship, training and networking opportunities.
The Ugandan finalists
Ghirmay Abraham
He is the managing director of Aptech Africa Ltd. Founded in 2011, Aptech Africa Ltd is a distribution and installation company providing solar energy, power transmission and water pumping services in Africa. It has offices located in South Sudan, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Niger and Liberia.
Through innovation, Aptech Africa has created sustainable solutions for those living in hard to reach areas in different parts of Africa. It provides off-grid and hybrid solutions, energy storage technology, solar water heaters, solar street lights, borehole drilling, water pumping and distribution, water treatment, irrigation, power transmission, substation maintenance, and power distribution.
Aptech offers sales services to help their clients find the ideal solar solution to their energy needs and after-sales services to maintain their products and systems.
Emmanuel Emodek
Emmanuel is the co-founder and Managing Director at Chap Chap Africa. ChapChap Africa seeks to create low-cost mobile payment solutions by providing financial products and services to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and their customers.
Read also: ChapChap Africa: Enabling financial inclusion through aggregation
The ChapChap mobile payment platform was launched in 2017 in Uganda, initially allowing customers to pay for digital goods and services and do online shopping while earning cash back on their transactions. In a span of three years, about 17,000 businesses have been onboarded. With the App, MSMEs are able to tap into financial services such as mobile money to do deposits, withdrawals as well as bill payment services in just five minutes.
Daniel Mukisa
Daniel is the co-founder and CEO of Ridelink, a logistics provider for Small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The company is focused on stimulating the growth of businesses by creating sustainable and affordable mobility solutions tailored to facilitate the smooth running of business operations, increase revenue earning, improve mobility efficiency, performance and ability for businesses to tap into new markets.
Africa’s Business Heroes 2021
The competition started with 50 finalists who were chosen from more than 12,000 entries, representing 16 countries from Africa; 38% being female entrepreneurs; 10% being Francophone. Among the 20 finalists, 45% are female entrepreneurs. With 13 industry sectors included like agriculture, beauty & wellness, construction, consulting, education, energy, environmental protection, financial services, and more, the competition continues to emphasize diversity.
The Top 10 will be announced in late September before they go on to the grand finale where they will pitch live to global business legends and secure their share of the USD 1.5 million prize pool.
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