Inaugural AfrInnovate Youth Challenege Celebrates Social Entrepreneurship in Africa
January 18, 2024
Young people took center stage at the inaugural AfrInnovate Youth Challenge (AYC), a competition resulting from the JA/Z Zurich Foundation (ZZF) Social Equity Program (SEP). The initiative, sponsored by ZZF, equips older youth ages 16–25 with the skillset and mindset they need to enter the job market, achieve financial independence, and drive change in their communities.
During its 2023 pilot year, SEP trained over 10,000 young people, who created more than 500 social equity projects that positively impacted communities in Uganda, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire. Preliminary national competitions in each country brought three top teams to the finals.
The Finalists
Cote d’Ivoire: Red Heart developed an innovative application for managing blood donations, addressing a critical need in their community.
South Africa: Transcendence, an IT-based company, aims to eliminate paper usage and contribute to a more sustainable and tech-driven future.
Uganda: Bed Mot created building bricks from used plastics, offering a novel solution to the plastic waste problem.
The competition gave each team five minutes to present their projects, followed by a five-minute Q&A with the judges:
Nvalaye Kourouma, Group Head, Chief Digital Officer, Ecobank Group
Adaora Odukwe, Senior Manager, Oncology & Tele-education, Mymdoc
Jocelyne Muhutu-Rémy, Managing Director, Sub Saharan Africa, Spotify
Gary Shaughnessy, Chair, Z Zurich Foundation
Tim Swain, Grants Specialist, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation
The winning team will receive US$10,000 in seed capital for their idea and individual media training from AYC emcee Anita Erskine.
Meet the Winners
The Innovation Award recognizes the team that emphasizes the significance of innovation in entrepreneurship.
Winner: Uganda, Bed Mot
The Impact Award recognizes the project with notable societal contributions.
Winner: Côte d’Ivoire
AYC of the Year: Bed Mot, Uganda
In addition to the competition and awards ceremony, students heard a keynote from Dr. Henrietta Onquegbuzie, Associate Professional of Entrepreneurship at Lagos Business School, and Director, Business Innovation Accelerator, who spoke about success principles for life and business.
Before introducing Dr. Onquegbuzie, Gregory Renand, Head of ZZF, reflected on the successful pilot year and recognized the volunteers and program facilitators who enabled SEP across three countries. AYC named Valérie Lebrun, ZZF’s Head of Risk Management, Group Risk Management, with the Volunteer of the Year Award, and honored Linda Abeja, Uganda; Serge Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire; and Zayd Julius, South Africa with the Facilitator of the Year awards.
What’s next?
According to JA Africa CEO Simi Nwogugu, “2024 will be bigger and better.” The JA/ZZF Social Equity Program will include Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania in its second year, as well as expanded curriculum and partnership with Archie Jones, Harvard Business School Professor and Founder of NxGen COACH Network. JA Worldwide’s education team is working with JA Africa to upgrade the JA DEEP platform.
In closing remarks, JA Worldwide COO Caroline Jenner told the young entrepreneurs that “social entrepreneurship is really about building thriving communities and solving the big problems that affect all of us. You learn the most when you try to turn an idea into reality. It’s one of the hardest things you can possibly do, when you have to face all the practical challenges that go along with that. But when you have a supportive and encouraging and environment around you, and you work well together as a team.”