President Akufo-Addo has thrown a challenge to entrepreneurs on the African continent, both those beginning and the already established, to rise up and join forces to build Africa.
Sharing his thoughts at the maiden Africa Netpreneur Conference, a Jack Ma Foundation initiative, on the theme “The Rise of Africa’s Entrepreneur Heroes”, at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), President Akufo-Addo said Entrepreneurship is an essential component of economic growth and it has been embraced globally as one of the most important drivers of development.
“Let us rise together and build Africa. Let us leave a legacy we can be proud of to generations unborn. We are doing all of this because we cannot continue to lose our young ones on the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara desert. We must create the enabling environment to unleash the Entrepreneurial skills for national and Continental development” President Akufo-Addo said.
“I have said and I firmly believe that we can build a Ghana and indeed an Africa Beyond Aid that is a prosperous and self-confidence Africa, that is in charge of her economic destiny, a transformed Africa that is prosperous enough to be beyond needing aid, an Africa that engages competitively with the rest of the world through trade and investment. We can only do this if we invest in Entrepreneurship and ensure that the population are aggressive in pursuing the Enterpreneaurial agenda” President Akufo-Addo added.
Jack Ma, in his address at the conference, indicated that his foundation has chosen Africa because it recognizes that Africa has real and hungry Entrepreneurs who want to make a difference but have genuine challenges. The Rise of Africa’s Entrepreneur Heroes event he said is ready to bring a change in the dynamics in the lives of the African entrepreneur who dares to make the difference. Mr. Jack Ma, further noted that Education, E-Government, E-frastructure, Entrepreneurship are the four key components Africa needs to get right in order to develop as rapidly as possible.
The Africa Netpreneur Prize
The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative is Jack Ma’s flagship entrepreneur program in Africa led by the Jack Ma Foundation. Its mission is to identify and spotlight African entrepreneur heroes and their stories to inspire the continent and beyond. After seven months and nearly 10,000 applications, the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative has chosen the 10 finalists for the competition‘s grand finale event in Accra, Ghana, on the 16th of November, 2019.
The 10 contestants hailing from Egypt, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda and Cote D’Ivoire, will make their final pitches during the November 16th taping of “Africa’s Business Heroes,” a televised event scheduled to air November 29th in countries across Africa. Just how much of the $1 million prize pool they receive will depend on four judges: Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, Econet Group Founder and Executive Chairman Strive Masiyiwa, First Bank of Nigeria Chairman and the Chair Centre Group founder Ibukun Awosika and Alibaba Group Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai.
