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Patterns designed by Diarrablu
2020 Top10 Finalist
INTRODUCTION
During our inaugural year, we partnered with start-up incubators from across the continent, namely:
Kenya
South Africa
Egypt
Nigeria
We also partnered with dozens of influencers, local organizations and service providers to ensure that the ABH is a localized and truly a pan-African effort.
KEY STATS
~10,000
applications received between
27th March 2019 and 30th June 2019
50
out of 54 African countries
represented in our applicant pool
26%
of our Top 50 finalists were female
2019 SELECTION PROCESS
Once applications closed, all applications underwent a rigorous review and selection process.
Round 1 & 2
Between 6th July – 6th August 2019, we identified our Top 50 Finalists via an online review by our Round 1 judges.
We subsequently held rigorous video-call interviews with our Top 50 to identify our Top 20 finalists.
Semi-Finale
Between 16th – 20th August 2019, our Top 20 were flown in to Nairobi, Kenya to pitch to a panel of renowned judges. After two days of intense pitches and reviews, we finally identified our Top 10 Finalists and ABH Africa's Business Heroes!
Due Diligence
As a final step, PwC conducted thorough investigations on our shortlisted finalists. We announced our Final 10 on 14th October 2019 after due diligence was completed.
2019 LAUNCH
We launched our program with simultaneous events across Africa held by our Africa local hub partners in: Cairo, Egypt; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya. Each hub partner held an offline event with panels discussing the prize and entrepreneurship in Africa. The event concluded with Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, and Cairo linking on a live feed on Facebook and followed by a countdown and the live launch of the website.
Nairobi, Kenya
Lagos, Nigeria
Johannesburg, South Africa
Cairo, Egypt
Through the support of our partners and supporters we achieved significant results!
OUR 2019 TOP 10 HEROES & PRIZE DISTRIBUTION
1
st
PRIZE
WINNER
Temie Giwa-Tubosun
CEO of LifeBank
$250,000
MORE
2
nd
PRIZE
WINNER
Omar Shoukry Sakr
CEO of Nawah Scientific
$150,000
MORE
3
rd
PRIZE
WINNER
Christelle Kwizera
Founder of Water Access Rwanda
$100,000
MORE
OTHER FINALISTS
Moulaye TABOURÉ
CEO of Afrikrea
MORE
Dr.Tosan Joseph M
Founder of Black Swan Tech Ltd
MORE
Chibuzo Opara
CEO of DrugStoc
MORE
Mahmud Johnson
CEO of J-Palm Liberia
MORE
Waleed Abd El Rahman
Founder of Mumm
MORE
Ayodeji Arikawe
CTO & Co-Founder
of Thrive Agric
MORE
Kevine Kagirimpundu
Co-founder of UZURI K&Y
MORE
All other finalists received $65,000