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Four Nigerians Make Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative Top 10 Finalists List
The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) has identified the top 10 finalists for its grand finale event taking place in Accra, Ghana on 16 November 2019. Among them are four Nigerian netpreneurs.
The finalists were chosen from nearly 10,000 applicants from 50 African countries. After months of judging and deliberation, the finalists were shortlisted and will now go on to pitch their business directly to four finale judges – Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet Group; Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and Founder/CEO of The Chair Centre Group; and Joe Tsai, Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group – during a televised finale event called “Africa’s Business Heroes”. The winners will receive a share of the $1 million USD grant prize pool.
The Jack Ma Foundation will host a full-day Africa Netpreneur Summit, an invitation-only conference where African and global entrepreneurs, investors, educators, and leaders will convene to discuss how best to enable entrepreneurship and the digital economy across the continent. Guest speakers at the conference will include Ban Ki-moon, Former UN Secretary General and Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens. The conference will be followed by the “Africa’s Business Heroes” event in the evening.
“We launched the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative to identify top entrepreneurs from across the continent, not only to reward them but to inspire a whole new generation of potential gamechangers for Africa. I have been inspired by the entrepreneurs I met in Africa, many of whom are dealing with the same challenges we faced when we started Alibaba years ago. I truly believe the potential of Africa’s business heroes is limitless,” said Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation.
“Africa’s Business Heroes” will air on November 29. More details of how to tune in to the program will be released in the coming weeks. Highlights from the Africa Netpreneur Summit will also be shared via ANPI social media handles. Follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The diverse group of 10 finalists represent a range of industries and experience.
The finalists: Waleed Abd El Rahman, CEO, Mumm (Egypt)
Mumm is a virtual cafeteria for businesses, harnessing the power of shared economy through technology, cloud kitchens and an online marketplace for home-based entrepreneurial cooks. Waleed is a seasoned entrepreneur with 12+ years in food tech. He is also the former founding managing director of MIT Technology Review-Middle East and a member of the Advisory Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community.
Ayodeji Arikawe, co-founder, Thrive Agric (Nigeria)
Thrive Agric is an agricultural technology-enabled company that works with smallholder farmers to enable them with greater access to finance, as well as improve their income and harvest distribution. Today, Thrive Agric works with 22,000 farmers in Nigeria, but the company is aiming to build the largest network of farmers in Africa. They are on a mission to “build an Africa that feeds the world and Itself.” Ayodeji is an accomplished software engineer and serves as both co-founder and CTO for Thrive Agric.
Temie Giwa-Tubosun, founder and CEO, LifeBank (Nigeria)
LifeBank is a medical distribution company that uses data and technology to help health workers discover critical medical products. The company has saved over 5,300 lives in Nigeria. Founder Temie has over 10 years of health-management experience with Department for International Development, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and Lagos State. In 2014, BBC listed her as one of the 100 women changing the world. She was also recognized by Quartz and the World Economic Forum.
Mahmud Johnson, founder and CEO, J-Palm (Liberia)
J-Palm Liberia (JPL) was founded with the goal of making premium consumer goods while creating income-earning and employment opportunities through sustainable palm-oil production. When JPL was first founded, palm oil kernels had been going to waste in Liberia, but founder and CEO Mahmud Johnson found a way to innovate productive uses for this overlooked natural resource.
Today, JPL has created a range of beauty and clean-energy products, built a robust network of partnerships across the country, and helped to create jobs for hundreds of Liberians. Mahmud holds a degree in economics from Dartmouth College and is a 2017 recipient of the Order of the Star of Africa conferred by the President of Liberia.
Kevine Kagirimpundu, co-founder and CEO, UZURI K&Y (Rwanda)
UZURI K&Y is an African-inspired ecofriendly shoe brand established in Rwanda. Kevine is the co-founder and CEO of UZURI K&Y, and she is passionate about ending global waste while also leveraging her creativity to create employment opportunities for her community.
UZURI has made a direct impact on more than 750 people through employment and skills training. In addition to obtaining her degree in creative design, she has participated in numerous entrepreneurship programs to enhance her skills in business development. In 2017, she was recognized as the winner of the Made in Rwanda Enterprise of the Year.
Christelle Kwizera, founder, Water Access Rwanda (Rwanda)
Water Access Rwanda pioneered INUMA™️, a Safe Water Microgrid that reclaims broken boreholes and transforms them into state-of-the-art solar-powered water kiosks and pipelines. The water is sold for $1/1000 litre and creates off-farm jobs for youth.
Currently, Water Access Rwanda employs 68 people, and allows 47,612 customers to access water daily across 86 stations. Christelle is a mechanical engineer and was named INCO’s woman entrepreneur of the year in 2019, among other high-profile awards.
Dr. Tosan J. Mogbeyiteren, founder, Black Swan (Nigeria)
WeMUNIZE by Black Swan Tech Ltd is helping to solve Nigeria’s public-health challenges by deploying an automated scheduling, GPS-enabled software-as-a-service that uses a combination of digital record keeping and community engagement to increase birth registration and early childhood immunizations.
Black Swan is working with USAID Nigeria to expand WeMUNIZE coverage in northern Nigeria. Tosan is a public-health specialist with more than 13 years of experience in deploying technology to solve development challenges in Nigeria.
Chibuzo Opara, co-founder, DrugStoc (Nigeria)
DrugStoc is a cloud-based pharmaceutical IT and logistics platform focused on eliminating counterfeit drugs, expanding access to pharmaceutical products and improving transparency in pricing for healthcare providers and the product supply chain. Chibuzo is a health economist and medical doctor with over 12 years of experience in the health sector. He has worked with the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the International Finance Corporation.
Dr. Omar Sakr, founder and CEO, Nawah-Scientific (Egypt)
Nawah-Scientific is the first private research center in the MENA region focused on natural and biomedical sciences that offers analytical and scientific services online and on-demand. Dr. Sakr has 13 years of pharmaceutical experience, has worked as an adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Zewail City of Science and Technology, and holds scientific and business awards for innovative product design.
Moulaye Taboure, co-founder and CEO, Afrikrea (Cote D’Ivoire)
Afrikrea.com is the leading “Made of Africa” fashion, art and handicraft online marketplace. The marketplace has processed more than $4 million in sales across 101 countries and supports merchants from all over the world. After growing up in Mali and working for companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Alstom, Moulaye now dedicates his time to building the global infrastructure for African culture.
Cybervergent has launched version 3.0 of its artificial intelligence (AI)-native posture management platform and expanded operations into Kenya, Ghana, and SA.
The move, according to the company, introduces automated risk verification for enterprises and aims to position Africa as a force in digital governance technology.
It goes on to say the latest platform upgrade introduces continuous posture management, replacing traditional point-in-time governance, risk, and compliance reporting with real-time verification systems.
An AI engine independently verifies 99.9% of audit and monitoring findings before they appear on enterprise dashboards, according to Cybervergent.
It says risk management, compliance, audit, and data security operations are integrated into a unified system built for cloud and on-premise environments.
According to Cybervergent, the platform maps more than 4 500 controls across frameworks, including the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 27001, and System and Organisation Controls (SOC) 2.
Cybervergent says the rollout of its first South African customer validates the platform’s readiness for highly regulated enterprise markets and strengthens its expansion strategy across Africa’s leading technology and financial hubs.
The company is also adopting a channel-first deployment model, working with local partners and system integrators in Lagos, Accra and Johannesburg to scale verified security infrastructure for enterprises navigating increasingly complex regulatory demands.
“We built verification into the architecture,” said Ayomide Daniels, co-founder and chief scientist at Cybervergent. “If a finding is not traceable back to source documentation, it does not reach the dashboard.”
Cybervergent rebranded from Infoprivacy in late 2023 to reflect its shift towards AI-automated cybersecurity.
The start-up previously focused on data privacy compliance in the West African market before pivoting to its current integrated posture management model.
Federal Government has directed recipients of honorary doctorate degrees to stop using the title “Dr.” before their names, as part of efforts to protect the integrity of academic qualifications and curb the misuse of honorary awards.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the directive after the approval of the new policy by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Alausa said the measure was necessary to address the growing abuse, commercialisation and politicisation of honorary degrees in some tertiary institutions across the country.
He explained that honorary doctorates are symbolic recognitions of outstanding contributions to society and do not equate to earned academic qualifications obtained through rigorous study, research and examination.
“Recipients of honorary doctorate degrees are not entitled to use the title ‘Dr.’ as a prefix to their names in official, professional or academic engagements,” he said.
According to the minister, awardees may instead indicate the honorary distinction after their names using formats such as D.Litt (Honoris Causa), LL.D (Honoris Causa) or other approved honorary designations.
Under the revised policy, only universities with active doctoral programmes will be permitted to confer honorary doctorate awards.
The government also restricted recognised honorary awards to four categories: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
In addition, all honorary degree certificates must clearly carry inscriptions such as “Honorary” or “Honoris Causa” to distinguish them from earned academic degrees.
The minister warned universities against indiscriminate conferment of honorary degrees, noting that institutions found violating the directive would face sanctions from the National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education.
He said the policy was part of broader reforms aimed at restoring credibility to Nigeria’s higher education system and ensuring academic titles are not misrepresented for personal, political or financial gains.
Observers say the development could reshape the long-standing culture where public office holders, business executives and celebrities often adopt the “Dr.” title after receiving honorary awards.
African fintech revenues are projected to expand 13-fold to approximately $65 billion by 2030, marking the continent as the world’s fastest-growing digital finance market.
The “Beyond Payments: Unlocking Africa’s Second FinTech Wave ” report, released by Boston Consulting Group at the Inclusive FinTech Forum in Kigali, indicates the sector is shifting from transactional inclusion to scalable, infrastructure-driven systems.
While Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 74% of global mobile money volume, more than 50% of lending still occurs through informal channels, representing a massive gap for B2B payments and data-driven underwriting.
The opportunity now is to convert scale into sustained, institutional-grade growth, says the report. Markets offering regulatory clarity and interoperable infrastructure are becoming increasingly attractive to long-term capital.
Rwanda is highlighted as an example of deliberate institutional coordination that lowers the cost to scale for financial institutions.
Forward-looking regulation and the License Passporting Memorandum of Understanding between Rwanda and Kenya are cited as practical steps toward easing regional expansion.
Financial centres like the Kigali International Financial Centre play a critical role in this next phase by reducing uncertainty for banks and investors.
By combining regulatory clarity and Pan-African integration, they reduce uncertainty for banks, fintechs, and investors, and help position markets as credible, long-term investment destinations.
Africa’s next fintech phase will be led by financial institutions, the report notes. It goes on to say banks and regulated entities are becoming the primary customers of digital financial infrastructure, demanding platforms that align with their risk frameworks.
The report identifies five institutional priorities to sustain momentum: interoperable infrastructure, data-driven credit, regulatory coherence, trust, and resilience.
Building seamless wallet-to-bank integration will enable more efficient value movement, while transforming transaction data into AI-enabled underwriting models will help bridge the gap in SME lending.
Proportional licensing frameworks and predictable supervisory practices will lower the cost to scale for innovators. Furthermore, expanding cybersecurity capabilities will ensure the ecosystem remains reliable as digital usage grows.
Africa has demonstrated that fintech scale is achievable, and the next decade will be shaped by those markets that strengthen their institutional foundations, the report concludes.
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