Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), a competition wherein the winner will walk away with a whooping Ksh1 Billion is set to soon kick off.
The Prize initiative will officially be open for funding applications from entrepreneurs beginning March 27, 2019.
The initiative is founded by the Jack Ma Foundation and is designed to run on an annual basis for the next 10 years.
Participants will be expected to host a pitch business ideas requiring funding for competition and ten finalists will be selected from across the continent to compete for the mentioned prize money.
Jack Ma foundation will receive the support of its continental partner Nailab in organizing for the initiative.
The underlying focus will be the empowerment of a new generation of entrepreneurs with a specific focus on small businesses, grassroots communities, and women-founded enterprises.
Founder and CEO of Nailab, Sam Gichuru indicated, “The Netpreneur Prize Initiative has brought together a strong ecosystem of players to support both technology-driven and traditional businesses.”
“We look forward to unveiling the full slate of regional partners and to receiving applications from promising African entrepreneurs in the coming weeks” he added.
All 10 finalists of the Prize initiative will also receive grant funding to grow and develop their business ideas from the Jack Ma Foundation.
They will also be given access to the Netpreneur community of African business leaders for purposes of leveraging the best practices, expertise, and resources.
“By 2030, we hope to identify and shine a spotlight on 100 African entrepreneur heroes who will inspire the continent. From day one, our approach has been community-based and focused on inclusiveness; to be true for Africans and by Africans,” stated Beth Yu, Executive Secretary-General, Jack Ma Foundation.
