Africa's Business Heroes

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR FINALE JUDGES

Jack Ma

Founder,
the Jack Ma Foundation

(2019)

Joe Tsai

Chairman,
Alibaba Group

(2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)

Ibukun Awosika

Founder,
the Chair Centre Group

(2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)

Strive Masiyiwa

Founder and Executive,
Chairman,
Econet

(2019, 2020)

Victor Williams

CEO,
NBA Africa

(2021, 2022)

Lucy Peng

Co-founder and Partner,
Alibaba

(2020)

Diane Karusisi

CEO,
Bank of Kigali

(2023)

This is the hope of Africa. If we can enable the entreprenerus there, they may change Africa.

Africa's Business Heroes is giving inspiration and courage to all entrepreneurs in Africa.

This award is for all industries in Africa, to all mem and all women, of different ages.

This is for African entrepreneurs.

Jack Ma

Founder
Jack Ma Foundation

ABH GRANT RECIPIENTS HAVE

Raised over

$153M+

in investment

Operations in

African countries

Served over

37.5M+

customers/users

Created over

123,000

direct and indirect jobs

Received

in prize money

Reported over

$252M

in revenue

Numerous stories of struggle, innovation, and accomplishment give color to the numbers above. Covid-19 hit the world shortly after the inaugural ABH competition and despite this ABH remained steadfast in its mission. Today, ABH entrepreneurs are thring, and only one out of the ABH’s Top 50 grant recipients no longer operates.

WOMEN AND ABH

Africa has the highest percentage of women-led businesses in the world. Women make up 30% of the ABH applicant pool. This figure rises with women accounting for 42% of the 50 ABH finalists and 60% of the Grand Prize winners in the first 4 years. Women have also been awarded 47% of the ABH prize money to date. This representation is crucial when on average male entrepreneurs receive 25 times more investment than females.

30%

ABH applicant pool

42%

50 ABH finalists

60%

Grand Prize winners

47%

ABH Prize money

ABH SHOW

Africa’s Business Heroes
2019 Official Documentary

The power and impact of storytelling

The acclaimed ABH multi-award-winning documentary chronicles the journeys of 3 Top 10 ABH entrepreneurs from the 2019 competition. It depicts the challenges they face while building impactful African businesses and the sacrifices made on their path. The documentary portrays their grit, passion, innovation, and trailblazing spirit.

The ABH Show

(2020, 2021, 2022)

The ABH Show offers a master class in entrepreneurship, showcasing leading African entrepreneurs refining their pitches and competing for the top 3 spots. The show spotlights our Top 10 heroes each year and provides insight into the business and their journey through the ABH competition. The ABH Show has been broadcast each year on continent-wide and local TV stations including CNBC Africa and StarTimes before it is added to ABH official YouTube channel. In 2022 the show format evolved from longerlength TV shows to short content so that it could be consumed more easily.

AMPLIFYING REACH BY LEVERAGING PUBLIC RELATIONS

To inspire millions through stories of entrepreneurship in Africa, these narratives must reach a wide audience. Leveraging the power of media, including social platforms, articles, and interviews, becomes a potent tool in ensuring that ABH entrepreneurs’ stories resonate across Africa and globally.

Languages

English, French, Arbic, Portuguese

Media releases

across 54 African countries

Print media coverage

29,188 clippings

1 billion people globally

SOCIAL MEDIA

Highlighting ABH’s social media impact demonstrates our commitment and track record, providing a means to measure engagement effectively. It also allows the stories of our heroes to reach a wider audience, and inspire larger communities. As many Africans use mobile-based social media pages, by leveraging them, ABH is also building a community of inspired Africans.

Each year since 2019, ABH has compiled a short recap video of its competition. These YouTube videos have received millions of views, and in response to the increased popularity of short content, ABH will continue to leverage this format going forward.

Facebook

• 126,934 followers

• 907M+ views

• 8,489,322 interactions

• 23,217 followers

• 797,339 impressions

• 71,059 engagements

X/Twitter

• 16,104 followers

• 3,355,590 impressions

• 167,697 engagements

Instagram

• 27,836 followers

• 195,014,858 impressions

• 56,277 engagements

YouTube

• 8,460 followers

• 5,987,991 views

• 17,377 interactions

* Figures above were correct as of December 2023s

ENTREPRENEURS BY SECTOR

Their regional distribution and diversity

Agriculture

Digital & Consumer Services

Energy & Environment

Healthcare

Retail & Manufacturing

Science & Education

AFRICA’S BUSINESS HEROES TIMELINE
2017 TO 2023

2017

Jack Ma visited Africa for the first time as a special adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for Youth Entrepreneurship and Small Business. During his trip, he spent time at Nailab, an entrepreneur incubator in Nairobi, Kenya. Following this, he attended the YouthConnekt Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Inspired by the abundant entrepreneurial spirit and untapped potential of the African youth, Mr. Ma announced a decade-long philanthropic commitment to support African entrepreneurs.

2018

The Jack Ma Foundation established the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) with an initial $10 million investment over ten years from 2019 to 2029. Its mission is to identify, showcase, and provide grant funding to 100 of Africa’s Business Heroes over ten years and inspire a movement of African entrepreneurship. Three program pillars were identified to deliver impact and support the mission: Support, Show, and Grow.

2019

The inaugural year of the Africa’s Business Heroes competition saw the program simultaneously launched in Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Nairobi with the help of local hub partners. 9,366 applications were received from 50 countries across the continent following the successful launch. The competition semi-final was held in Nairobi, Kenya. Following this, the inaugural Summit and Grand Finale was held in Accra, Ghana in front of an 800-person audience where the $1 million prize was allocated.

2020

ANPI was rebranded to Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) to highlight African entrepreneurs and further ensure that business heroes are the program’s focus. The ABH documentary was launched and received nine prestigious international awards and official selections from international TV and film festivals. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the competition adapted and was launched virtually to an audience of ~4,000. Nearly 22,000 applications were received from all 54 African countries. The prize money was increased to $ 1.5 million.

2021

Due to the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, the competition continued to run virtually. Ten locations connected virtually for the ABH Grand Finale, which featured a virtual exhibition hall that showcased the Top 10 businesses in virtual exhibition booths. The ABH show premièred on CNBC Africa, a 4 part TV show chronicling the journey of the 2020 Top 10 Heroes. The show was then broadcast on a range of continental and local stations before it was added to the ABH YouTube channel.

2022

For the first time since 2019, the competition was launched physically where audiences from Cairo, Kigali, and Kinshasa were simultaneously connected to a large online audience. The semi-final was physically held in Kigali, Rwanda concurrently with the first ABH Top 10 gathering which saw heroes from 2019 to 2021 meeting for the first time. During the event, the first ABH African office was opened at Norrsken House, Kigali to reinforce the program’s commitment to the continent by setting down African roots. The Grand Finale was then held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in front of an intimate live ~100 studio audience and broadcast online.

2023

To reach a wider audience of local entrepreneurs, following a virtual launch, there was an application support workshops roadshow in 12 cities. This year saw a record high response with more than 27,000 hopeful entrepreneurs from across all 54 African Countries signing up for the competition. For the first time, the semi-final was open to a small live audience of 200 and attracted a diverse group of individuals ranging from students to entrepreneurs and ecosystem players. For the first time since 2019 and in celebration of its 5th anniversary, ABH hosted a physical Summit and Grand Finale in Kigali gathering over 1,750 attendees.

ABH KEY STATISTICS

Prize Competition

	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	TOTAL/ AVERAGE
Number of African countries represented	50	54	54	54	54
Number of applicants	9,366	21,952	20,288	20,976	27,267	99,849
French-speaking applicants	N/A	18%	16%	15%	27%	19%
Proportion of women among Top 10	30%	50%	50%	50%	30%	42%
Number of volunteer judges	46	178	285	497	411	903
Total grant funding	$1 million	$1.5 million	$1.5 million	$1.5 million	$1.5 million	$7 million

	2019	2020	2021
Number of African countries represented	50	54	54
Number of applicants	9,366	21,952	20,288
French-speaking applicants	N/A	18%	16%
Proportion of women among Top 10	30%	50%	50%
Number of volunteer judges	46	178	285
Total grant funding	$1 million	$1.5 million	$1.5 million

	2022	2023	TOTAL/ AVERAGE
Number of African countries represented	54	54
Number of applicants	20,976	27,267	99,849
French-speaking applicants	15%	27%	19%
Proportion of women among Top 10	50%	30%	42%
Number of volunteer judges	497	411	903
Total grant funding	$1.5 million	$1.5 million	$7 million

Over the past 5 years, the Prize Competition has received immense support from investors, entrepreneurs, and business professionals from across the globe.

903 volunteers have provided their support in the form of judging, mentoring, and supporting the thousands of applicants who have entered and participated in the competition. Together these volunteers have contributed over 15,280 hours of support to the program.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Since its establishment, the ABH Program has worked closely with a range of entrepreneurial ecosystem players from across the globe. The support of our partners, judges, volunteers, friends, and communities across Africa and from all corners of the world has been instrumental in the success we have achieved to date. We extend our sincere thanks to the countless individuals and organizations who have played a role in our journey thus far, and we look forward to reaching new heights together moving forward.

Board