Khadija El-Bedweihy, Ikenna Nzewi & Navalayo Osembo are ‘Africa’s Business Heroes’ 2021 Top 3 Winners

Congratulations are in order for Africa’s Business Heroes top 3 winners of 2021 – Khadija El-Bedweihy (winner) Ikenna Nzewi (1st runners up), and Navalayo Osembo (2nd runners up).

Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) is the Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic program in Africa to directly support talented and promising African change-makers that believe in the power of entrepreneurship, through its namesake Prize competition.

“Each year the Prize selects ten ‘business heroes’ from across Africa that compete for their share of USD 1.5 million in grant funding. During the competition, participants have also exclusive access to training, mentoring and learning programmes, as well as to a community of like-minded African business leaders.”

The grand finale which took place on the 17th of November saw special guest performances, exciting pitches by the Top 10 African Business Heroes, thought-provoking insightful discussions with business moguls and the announcement of the prize winners.

The three finalists emerged top amongst Africa’s brilliant business minds that graced this year’s competition. “Their entrepreneur journeys have inspired us and we congratulate them for their resilience, innovation, and hard work,” ADH commended the prize winners.

Responding to the announcement, Navalayo Osembo who came third place wrote:

It was such an exhilarating journey! Thank you for the opportunity to share our story, to make new friends, to learn about other entrepreneurs on the continent, and to reaffirm that it is indeed African time!”