Alaa Moatamed, co-founder of Presto , a leading delivery management service, takes home the $ 25,000 Grand Prize
With a pool of talented finalists from more than 15 African countries, the 2020 Anzisha Award – the leading award for the youngest entrepreneurs in Africa – goes to Alaa Moatamed, a young female entrepreneur whose business offers an affordable and convenient delivery service for clients . EdTech entrepreneur Matina Razafimahefa (22) from Madagascar emerged as the first runner-up ($ 15,000), while 22-year-old infrastructure entrepreneur Mohamed Bah from Sierra Leone was the second runner-up ($ 12,500).
The 20 finalists were selected from an impressive initial pool of more than 1,000 young entrepreneurs, compared to 600 in 2019. The Anzisha Prize is proud to have attracted applicants from more than 30 African countries, in various sectors. Each of the 20 finalists, who went through the rigorous selection process, will receive $ 2,500 and the opportunity to participate in a society of 122 entrepreneurs who receive support and mentorship for business building. Since 2011, Anzisha Fellows has created more than 2,000 jobs, 56 percent of which were for young Africans under 25 years of age.
At an early age, Alaa had a passion for business. In 2016 she participates YOUNG where she co-founded and led her first initiative “Fettrah”, a project aimed at educating people with mental disabilities. After Fettrah, Alaa joins the founder of CFI ‘Camps for Intelligent’, an organization aimed at young people aged 12 to 17 who provide their skills not offered in traditional schools such as art and design, Android and web design and languages. Through CFI, Alaa and her team reach more than 70 young people. After 2017, Alaa worked as a community manager for a Cloud collaboration space, one of the leading business hubs in Al Minya, Egypt. With the sum of her experiences, Alaa is co-founder of Presto.
Presto is an automated delivery system that connects suppliers with customers and suppliers. The platform offers a network of small business delivery agents, and Presto has been successful since its launch in 2019, serving 300 stores and retailers in two cities.
‘Throughout Upper Egypt, I have seen people suffering from the problem we are solving, and I want to try my best to help them, especially small businesses owned by women. I want to expand my service across Africa to help women suffering from operational problems. . says Alaa.
The first runner-up, Matina Razafimahefa, is the founder of Sayna , an innovative EdTech company. Her business resources, train and deliver young equipped Africans in the field of industry-specific digital skills. Since its inception, the company has expanded its training to Comoros, Ivory Coast, Benin and Senegal. To date, Sayna has placed 80 percent of its students in the global IT market.
The second runner-up, Mohamed Bah, is the founder of Information for Everyone (IFA) – a company that builds drills and repairs water wells and toilets, ensuring the sustainability and hygiene of water for communities with water insurance. To date, the IFA team has drilled more than 20 boreholes and provided thousands of people with clean water.
“The young people who have taken part in the Anzisha Prize over the past decade remind us that betting on Africa’s young people is a recipe for success,” said the keynote speaker, Reeta Roy, President and CEO, Mastercard Foundation. ‘Now more than ever we need their entrepreneurial spirit. “
The Anzisha Prize is a partnership between the African Leadership Academy and the Mastercard Foundation . The finalists of the Anzisha Prize in 2020 were celebrated on Tuesday 27 October during the programme’s 10 de year virtual prize giving. Thousands of viewers joined in to commemorate young innovative African entrepreneurs creating jobs in their communities.
Applications for the next cycle of the Anzisha Prize open on 15 February 2021. Visit anzisha.org/nominate to nominate young entrepreneurs. Visit anzisha.org/awards for those who want to relive the moment Alaa was named this year’s winner.
Media contacts
Didi Onwu
African Leadership Academy
+27 11 699 3011
prize@anzishaprize.org or donwu@africanleadershipacademy.org
www.anzishaprize.org
Tonya Reid
Mastercard Foundation
treid@mastercardfdn.org
About the Anzisha Prize
The Anzisha Prize is awarded by African Leadership Academy in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. Through the Anzisha Prize, the organizers aim to fundamentally and significantly increase the number of job-generating entrepreneurs in Africa. They believe that the key to this is to test, implement and then share models for the identification, training and engagement of very potential, very young entrepreneurs (15 to 22 year olds), so that many more organizations have a better collective success has a pipeline of entrepreneurs with the capabilities for scale.
About African Leadership Academy
African Leadership Academy (ALA) wants to transform Africa by developing a powerful network of entrepreneurial leaders who will work together to achieve extraordinary social impact. ALA brings together ALA’s most promising young leaders from all 54 African countries for a pre-university program in South Africa focusing on leadership, entrepreneurship and African studies. ALA continues to cultivate these leaders throughout their lives, at university and beyond, by providing ongoing leadership and entrepreneurial training and connecting them to large-scale impact networks of people and capital that can catalyze large-scale change. For more information, visit http://africanleadershipacademy.org .
About the Mastercard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young people in Africa and indigenous communities in Canada to obtain dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest private foundations in the world with the aim of promoting learning and promoting financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world. The foundation was founded in 2006 by Mastercard as an independent organization with its own board and management. For more information on the Foundation, please visit: www.mastercardfdn.org