Four Nigeria-based startup founders were among the 29 African young entrepreneurs from 11 countries in Africa named in the 3rd Cohort of the eFounders Fellowship by Alibaba Business School and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for empowerment and training courses to become catalysts for digital transformation in their respective countries.
Meet the African entrepreneurs who took part in Jack Ma's eFounders Fellowship https://t.co/X9GLzRgIhP via @ventureburn
— Winnie Kay (@Winman27) July 4, 2018
The 2-week course for entrepreneurs which ran from June 19th – 29th, 2018 provided first-hand exposure to and learning about e-commerce innovations from China and around the world to participants and have helped them make transformative strategic shifts in their businesses – raising rounds of investment as well as opening their own training programs. Upon graduation, participants would continue to receive formal support from UNCTAD and Alibaba.
According to the eFounders felllowship, applications for the programme ended in May 2018 and was opened to young entrepreneurs (under 35 years) operating open, platform-based businesses in the e-commerce, logistics, big data, and tourism spaces. After which, a cohort of African entrepreneurs was chosen.
The eFounders Fellowship Program to Help in Speeding up of Digital Revolution Tech in AfricaFull coverage https://t.co/17zDDU4llW via @theafricamentor #entrepreneur #africa pic.twitter.com/Ge2yW1TUza
— Africa Mentor (@TheAfricaMentor) July 4, 2018
The representatives from Nigeria included:
- Tochukwu Uwakeme, founder of KemResource, an e-commerce company that connects rural farmers to buyers around the world.
- Chijioke Dozie, founder of OneFi, a FinTech company that offers underbanked and unbanked customers in West Africa access to loans through an android app.
- Malik Babalola of Gloo, an online supermarket
- Olugbenga Agboola of Flutterwave, a FinTech that drives growth for banks and businesses across Africa through digital payment technology.
While those from other countries included:
Rwanda: Leah Uwihoreye, founder of Golden Thoughts and Muhirwa Clement, founder of Uplus Mutual Partners.
Kenya: Nancy Amunga, founder of Dana Communication, Caroline Wanjiku, founder of Daproim Africa, Gladys King’ori of ZOA Tech, Caroline Kariuki of Sarai Afrique Fashion House, Mwai Mworia of M-Paya, Alloys Meshack of Sendy, and Daniel Yu of Sokowatch.
South Africa: Arnaud Blanchet, founder of Shopit, Roy Borole, founder of Thanga, and Basson Engelbrecht of Hoorah Online Shops.
Zambia: Bright Chinyundu, founder of Broadpay, Chinedu Koggu of ProBASE, and Njavwa Mutambo of Musanga.
Egypt: Hany Girgis, founder of Masry Market and Hatem Ayoub of Tripdizer.
Uganda: David Gonahasa, founder of Roundbob, Nielsimms Sangho of Intership, and Francis Nkurunungi of Xente.
Algeria: Taoufik Mousselmal of Maisonmaligne.com.
Chad: Andreas Koumato of Mossosouk.
Cameroon: Cedric Atangana of Wecashup.
Tunisia: Sadok Ghanouchi of E-Taxi and Sami Tounsi of Monresto.
The eFounders Fellowship is part of a pledge by Jack Ma, Alibaba Group’s Executive Chairman and UNCTAD Special Adviser for young entrepreneurs and small business, to empower 1,000 entrepreneurs from developing countries in 5 years with 200 of these entrepreneurs coming from Africa.
Congratulations to the entrepreneurs!
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