21-year-old Yannick Kimanuka has won the 2019 Anzisha Prize for entrepreneurship.
Yannick Kimanuka walks away with the prize money of $25, 000 as an investment for her venture.
The 2019 Anzisha Prize Forum awards ceremony took place in South Africa. It saw 20 young entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to potential investors. The finalists had only a few minutes to convince top industry players to invest in their business venture.
The Anzisha Prize is Africa's most prominent award for the youngest entrepreneurs and this year's theme for the awards was "Heads, Hearts, and Hands".
There were over 500 applicants from all over the continent from various sectors with agricultural business applications dominating.
67% of the applicants were men, while women accounted for only 33%. Making their first entry to the finalists' list were applicants from the Gambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia.
After the announcement of the winner, a visibly excited Yannick Kimanuka said:
"I cannot believe I won; I am so happy and overwhelmed with joy.
"I have had an opportunity to speak on the radio, but since it is a small community in the villages we talk to people in churches, and then we ask that they tell others about the business so that it can grow - and more people can bring their children to get access to quality education."
In his remarks, Josh Adler, Vice President Global Programs and Entrepreneurship at the African Leadership Academy, said:
"It's has been unequivocally proven already that female founders create deeply successful businesses. They are more inclusive in the way that they grow their businesses, so we need many more young female entrepreneurs. We actively recruit women entrepreneurs, and we have a quota of how many women have to be in the top 20 and will be increasingly aggressive with those requirements to be able to advance as many young women as we can."
The first runner-up, Osvaldo Reymokouma from DR Congo, walked away with the U.S.$15 000 funding for his agricultural business called AquagriTech, while Cecil Chikezie from Kenya, second runner-up, received U.S.$12 500 funding for his energy business, Eco Makaa.
Who is Yannick Kimanuka?
Yannick Kimanuka grew up in North Kivu Eastern Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where extreme violence and ethnic wars have shaken the city for more than two decades. Raised by a single mother, Yannick noticed that school children in her area had limited access to quality education.
The KIM’s School Complex, founded by Yannick in 2018, is a nursery and primary school which aims to reduce the trend of intellectual disability found in children from her community. The school’s goal is to prepare children to be globally competitive. The KIM’S School Complex pursues four priority objectives:
- To provide all students with equal opportunities for social emancipation
- Promote the self-confidence and development of each student
- Bring all students to appropriate knowledge and acquire skills that make them useful to society
- Prepare all students to be responsible citizens
The DRC’s Ministry of Education has endorsed the KIM's School Complex.
Source: http://www.anzishaprize.org, allafrica.com
Header Image Credit: Afro Hustler