Three Nigerians have made the podium of the 2021 African Business Heroes to be awarded in November in collaboration with the Jack Ma Foundation.
Three Nigerians have made the podium of the 2021 African Business Heroes to be awarded in November in collaboration with the Jack Ma Foundation.
The dynamic entrepreneurs will take the stage at the grand finale in November for their final pitch to win a share of a US$1.5 million prize pool.
The ten entrepreneurs – half of whom are female – operate in businesses which span key industries such as agriculture, beauty, education, energy, food & beverage, logistics, manufacturing, media & entertainment, and retail.
Announcing the finalists, Jason Pau, Executive Director of the Jack Ma Foundation, said:
“It’s African time! We have been continuously impressed with all of our 2021 Top 10 finalists, especially their diversity and strength of their businesses. The Top 10 are truly inspiring and are a testament to the talent, resilience, innovation, and passion of African entrepreneurs. In the midst of unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we remain steadfast in our efforts to identify, support and shine a spotlight on African entrepreneurs that are driving positive growth for their communities.”
As the finalists finesse their pitches and leverage the in-depth training, learnings and insights that they have gathered during their ABH journey, we take a look as their business journey’s so far.
Oghenetega Iortim, Founder, Gricd (https://Gricd.com) (Nigeria)
Oghenetega is an Information Communications Engineer with a Bachelor’s degree from Covenant University. Oghenetega has been dedicated to solving health and food accessibility challenges through technology. Through his startup, Gricd, he is building cold-chain facilities to address storage pitfalls in the agricultural and healthcare sectors.
Chidi Nwaogu, Co-founder and CEO, Publiseer (https://Publiseer.net) (Nigeria)
Chidi Nwaogu is a tech entrepreneur and software developer. He is the CEO of Publiseer, a digital content distribution company that helps independent and underserved African creatives earn a living. He is the winner of the 2020 Migration Entrepreneurship Prize from the Swiss Government, and is also an Acumen Fellow, Alibaba eFounders Fellow, Westerwelle Fellow, and French-African Young Leader.
Ikenna Nzewi, Co-founder and CEO, Releaf Marketplace Nigeria (https://Releaf.africa) (Nigeria)
Ikenna graduated from Yale University in 2017 with a Bachelors in Computer Science and co-founded Releaf while he was still at university. Releaf is an agriculture technology company that develops hardware and software solutions to drive industrialisation of food processing in Africa.
