Entrepreneurship is the act of creating a business with the goal of generating wealth and, by extension, employment opportunities while solving a specific problem. It goes without saying that entrepreneurship is a necessity for any country. It participates in economic dynamics.
Young entrepreneurs are increasingly changing the face of Africa. We therefore present you with a list of 10 of the youngest Africans who are having a spectacular impact on the continent.
From financial services to manufacturing, media, technology, green technology, and health. The 10 innovative young African entrepreneurs in this listing are committed to making a difference in the lives of their societies. Together, they represent the best in entrepreneurship, innovation, and intellectual capital of their generation.
They solve problems such as health care and electricity shortages, provide innovative solutions for waste management, build virtual and physical communities and create many jobs. Some are developing brilliant applications for cell phones across Africa.
Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but it is a good summary of our research.
A round of applause for the 10 youngest promising entrepreneurs in Africa :
1. Ludwick Marishane (South African)
At the age of 17, Ludwick Marishane inspired by a high school classmate who did not like to swim, Marishane decided to find a solution for this category of consumers. His solution was to find a product that would replace bathing. He began researching beauty products and their formulas on the net. He managed to develop a formula that would work with his goals. Because of lack of means, he took part in a business plan competition, which he won and used the funds obtained to develop his product. The first tests are failures. He therefore decides to enter into a partnership with a skin hygiene chemist. They end up developing the final product, the Dry Bath, and the company Headboy Industries. The Drybath is now sold in industrial quantities, making Marishane one of Africa’s most promising entrepreneurs.
2. Alain Nteff (Cameroon)
A 23 years old Cameroonian Alain Nteff, winner of the Anzisha Prize in 2014, an award that has opened the doors to success for him. The project that earned Alain Nteff the first Anzisha Prize and his current fame is his telephone application, “Gifted mom“, which sends alarms to pregnant women and mothers in Cameroon to remind them of their medical appointments; a project that was only made possible thanks to his skills and without any start-up capital. Shortly after being recognized at the Anzisha Awards in September 2014, Alain was invited to the world’s major business meetings, the most important being his participation as the youngest at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Amsterdam, where the is found the most influential figures of the world.
3. Danson Muchemi (Kenya)
This is the story of a young Kenyan who, at the age of 25, developed an online payment platform, JamboPay. Pursuing his dream in entrepreneurship, Danson had a difficulty of buying online, because of lack of means. He decided to set one up. So he subscribed to a cyber cafe where he rented a PC for $51 for 6 months. His first objective is to perfect his knowledge. He follows videos, reads documents, studies processes (all on the net) and ends up creating the JamboPay platform, then his company ITWeb Africa Kenya. The platform, which brings together more than 1,700 traders, is the preferred tool for online shopping in East Africa. This project has earned Danson 2 African entrepreneur awards.
4. Andrew Mupuya (Uganda)
A Ugandan of 22 years old, founder of Youth Entrepreneurial Link Investments (YELI), a paper bag production company. Andrew started this business at the age of 16, seeing an opportunity in a government law prohibiting the use of bags. YELI is a company that started with $18, that Andrew raised by picking up plastic bottles from the streets of Kampala. Today YELI supplies paper bags to 70 faithful customers and plans to become a recycling company. Andrew won $30,000 in the 2012 Anzisha Award, $1,000 from the Ugandan government, and the FERD Award.
5. Patrick Ngowi (Tanzania)
Tanzanian, 30 years old: At the age of 22, he created Helvic Solar Contractors with a starting capital of $1800, a loan from his mother. Eight years later, the company of which Patrick is CEO generates $15,000,000 as annual revenues. Entrepreneurship is a passion for Patrick who started his first business at the age of 15. After high school, he enrolled in a university program in China from where he decided to return to Tanzania to establish Helvic, a solar electricity company.
6. William Kamkwamba (Malawi)
An Inventor. Meet the boy who explored the wind. Born in Malawi, William was only 14 years old when he built a windmill that generated electricity from waste to provide a steady source of water for his family’s farm in Masitala village, Wimbe. With a dynamo bike and chain ring, a tractor fan, rubber belts and bamboo rods, William managed to build a windmill that provides enough power to run two radios and four light bulbs. Building on the modest success of the original windmill, William decided to build a larger windmill to help irrigate his village. Kamkwamba and is currently studying to obtain a degree in Environmental and Technical Studies at Dartmouth College in the United States.
7. Sizwe Nzima (South Africa)
Founder of Iyeza Express. The 21-year-old South African entrepreneur runs Iyeza Express, an innovative company that helps reduce congestion in public health facilities through collection, by delivering drugs with a bicycle to clinics and public hospitals for residents of the Western Cape province, who are on long-term medication.
8. Oluwaseun Osewa (Nigeria)
Founder of Nairaland. Nigerian geek Oluwaseun Osewa is the founder of Nairaland, Africa’s largest online forum. He founded the site in March 2005 as a general-purpose discussion forum with a preference for issues of interest to Nigerians. The site took off. Today, Nairaland has nearly 1 million registered users and is the most popular site in Nigeria. To give you an idea: In Nigeria, Nairaland receives more views than Wikipedia. Nairaland makes its turnover from its advertising inventory.
9. William Elong (Cameroon)
Promoter of the start-up Will & Brothers, specialized in economic intelligence and technological innovation.
This 23 year old Cameroonian is the youngest graduate of the Paris Economic War School at the age of 20. Will & Brothers, piloted by the young William Elong, has developed the DroneAfrica application, which makes it possible to offer the very first “civilian drone service” in Cameroon. Thanks to this application, a drone equipped with a tiny camera can be remotely piloted to capture unprecedented images over a very wide radius. From May 16 to 18 in Yaoundé, the discovery of this Cameroonian start upper was one of the main attractions at the international economic conference entitled “Investing in Cameroon, land of opportunities”.
10. Joel Mwale (Kenya)
At 20, he is the founder of the Skydrop Mwale Enterprises, and he runs SkyDrop, a rainwater filtration company that produces low-cost purified drinking water, milk and other dairy products in Kenya. Mwale founded Skydrop in December 2009 and the company currently employs more than 20 people.
Sources : Forbes Afrique, Jeune Afrique Le magazine, Wikipédia
Rédigé par Konango Pascal Arthur