Nairobi News

The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) has named the official regional partners from Western, Northern and Southern Africa, respectively for the prestigious Netpreneur Prize.

ANPI appointed NINE from Nigeria, RiseUp from Egypt and 22 On Sloane from South Africa as the three organisations set to work closely with Nailab, the continental and Eastern Africa partner, to promote the Prize in their respective regions.

The ANPI is a prize competition for African entrepreneurs, founded by the Jack Ma Foundation, and will for the next ten years host a pitch competition across the continent before ten finalists are selected to compete for the Sh100 million in total prize money.

The Prize targets, through grassroots outreach, the next generation of African entrepreneurs across all sectors building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future.

Nailab Founder and CEO Sam Gichuru said, “Together with our partners, we will support both technology-driven and traditional companies with a special focus on small businesses, grassroots communities and women-founded enterprises.”

Graca Machel, who chairs the Graca Machel Trust Board and is an ANPI advisory board member, said, “There are so many undiscovered entrepreneurial heroes, women and men alike, who once unearthed can become game-changers of the African entrepreneurship landscape.”

22 On Sloane is a legacy project of the Global Entrepreneurship Network Africa (GEN Africa) and home to the largest startup campus on the continent.

RiseUp is the creator and organizer of the MENA region’s largest entrepreneurship event, RiseUp Summit and connects startups with needed resources across Africa.

NINE is Nigeria’s largest network of Incubators supporting the growth of entrepreneurs.

ANPI will officially call for applications from March 27 – June 30, 2019.

All the ten finalists will receive grant funding from the Jack Ma Foundation and also get access to the Netpreneur community of African business leaders.