"Africa Rising" is a common tag the Western world has used in recent times when refering to our beloved continent.Its an expression that presents the African continent as an emerging powerhouse in the global economy.Across the continent,a wind of change and optimism is blowing,and soaring on this wind are its young generation of movers and shakers who are determined to make a difference and leave a lasting legacy for future generations to emulate.
Its time to celebrate and announce our own versions of Steve Jobs,Mark Cuban,Donald Trump,Larry Ellison and Jeff Bezos.We rarely hear about these African heroes in our own media but its time we project them and tell their stories to encourage others.These stories must be told to let the African youth know that; they and not their governments are the solutions to Africa's numerous problems.Alhaji Aliko Dangote,Dr.Mike Adenuga,Patrice Motsepe and others may be the big guns now but they wont be around forever.
The spirit of entrepreneurship is what will drive and push this continent forward.The very idea that when you start a business,you are not only in to make money, but to provide solutions to existing problems and create jobs for others in the process; is a noble ambition to pursue.
Most of these "rising" entrepreneurs are in their twenties and early thirties and spread across the length and breadth of the continent.East Africa,especially Kenya and Tanzania are experiencing tremendous growth in the number of entrepreneurs and start-ups.In part I of this post,I present ten of them to you and I will present the second ten in a later post.Enjoy the read.
Seth Akumani,Ghanaian
Co-founder and CEO,ClaimSync
Akumani, 30 is a co-founder of ClaimSync , an end-to-end claims processing software that enables hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities all over the world to automate patients’ medical records and to process records electronically. Claimsync’s solution allows these healthcare providers to easily prepare medical claims and send electronically to health insurance companies. In 2013 ClaimSync was the sole African company to participate in the high- profile, IBM, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline backed Accelerator program HealthXL in Dublin. ClaimSync was recently acquired by GenKey, a Dutch-based biometrics company.
Jonathan Liebmann, South African
Real Estate developer, CEO of Propertuity
The 29 year-old South African visionary is the Managing Director of Propertuity , a South African Real Estate development company and the brains behind the construction of the Maboneng Precinct, a thriving cultural district in the east side of Johannesburg’s CBD. Once a neglected and deteriorating neighborhood housing abandoned industrial complexes, Liebmann transformed Maboneng into a vibrant urban mixed-use community complete with Art galleries, artist studios, retail spaces, offices and artist studios.
Tunde Kehinde, Nigerian
Co-founder, Jumia Nigeria
The 30 year-old Harvard MBA grad recently stepped down as co-founder of Jumia Nigeria, the country’s largest online retailer. Kehinde founded Kasuwa, a Nigerian online retailer in 2012. Within days of its founding, Kasuwa received seed funding from German online startup incubator and the company’s name was changed to Jumia. Kehinde resigned in January to start a logistics company.
Adii Pienaar, South African
Founder, Woothemes
Adii Pienaar, 28, is the founder of Woothemes, a company that designs and develops customizable commercial themes and plugins for WordPress. Adii built the business with a bootstrap budget, and the company today generates over $3 million in annual revenues from the sale of its themes. Woothemes also develops and sells themes for other content management systems, including Tumblr. Pienaar also runs PublicBeta, a service that allows successful entrepreneurs to transfer knowledge to new startups.
Zaheer Cassim , South African
Founder, One Way Up Productions
29 year-old South African media entrepreneur Zaheer Cassim graduated from Columbia’s Journalism school and returned home to South Africa to found One Way Up Productions, a television production outfit with a client list that includes Ogilvy South Africa, Hollard Insurance, the African Leadership Academy and Hackett.
Mike Muthiga, Kenyan
Founder, Fatboy Animation
Muthiga, 26, is the founder of Fatboy Animation, a Nairobi-based animation company that produces 3 and 2 dimensional animation for both film and commercial use. FatBoy Animations has produced several viral animated commercials for Kenyan blue chips like brands such as Safaricom, Telkom Orange, Barclays Bank and Jamii Telecommunications (JTL). Danson Muchemi , Kenyan Founder, WebTribe Muchemi, 29, is the founder of WebTribe Kenya, a leading IT company in Kenya with operations in online payment systems, web applications and network security. Webtribe’s flagship company, Jambopay provides e-payments services for e- commerce players as well as e-ticketing services and electronic cash disbursement services. Jambopay is a recipient of the Google Innovation Awards in Financial Services for 2013.
Kunmi Otitoju , Nigerian
Founder, Minku Design
Kunmi, a 30 year-old Nigerian fashion entrepreneur is the founder of Minku Design, a company that makes leather bags for men and women by subtly blending Aso- oke fabric (a hand loomed cloth woven by Nigeria’s Yoruba people), into contemporary leather bag designs. Minku also makes Yoruba-themed leather purses and jewelry. All Minku Design’s products are hand-made at a workshop in Barcelona, Spain, but they are sold at high-end stores in Nigeria and on the company’s website .
Mazen Helmy, Egyptian
Founder, The District
27 year-old Mazen Helmy is the founder of The District , one of the first co-working spaces in Egypt and one of the few in the region. The District provides an inspiring workspace (sitting on a total area of almost 1000 square meters) for entrepreneurs and freelancers. Helmy founded the company in 2011.
Khaled Shady , Egyptian
Founder, Mubser
The 22 year-old Egyptian entrepreneur is the founder of Mubser, a new assistive tool for blind people. Mubser, which was launched officially in March 2014, is a wearable belt with a Bluetooth-connected headset that leverages RGB imaging and infrared dept data captured by a 3D depth camera that allows blind and visually impaired people to navigate around in a safe and easy way. The device recognizes object and obstacles such as staircases and chairs.
Joel Mwale , Kenyan
Founder, Skydrop Enterprises
Mwale who is now 21 years old founded SkyDrop Enterprises, a rainwater filtration and bottling company which produces low-cost purified drinking water, milk and other dairy products in Kenya. In 2012, Mwale sold a 60% stake in Skydrop to an Israeli firm for $500,000. Next stop: Education. Last year Mwale founded Gigavia, an educational social networking website.
Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2014/02/04/30-most-promising-young-entrepreneurs-in-africa-2014/2/
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