$75,000 USD Search for Africa’s top young innovators [Anzisha Prize]

The Anzisha Prize is on a continent-wide search for Africa’s rising young innovators. The Anzisha Prize is a youth innovation competition that promotes entrepreneurial projects amongst young people (age 15-20) in Africa. Finalists will win an all-expense paid trip to the African Leadership Academy campus in Honeydew, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa to attend a weeklong entrepreneurship conference. Grand prize winners, selected from these finalists, will share $75,000 USD in cash prizes to take their projects to the next level. This year, there will also be a special $10,000 award given to an Anzisha finalist with a renewable energy related project, courtesy of Silicon Valley Community

Foundation Donor Circle for Africa.
The goal is to spread awareness about the Anzisha Prize opportunity across the continent. “Last year, Anzisha received 180 applications, however, there are certainly hundreds upon thousands of entrepreneurial African youth that are impacting their communities. We want to hear their stories and recognize their successes.” – Chi Achebe, Anzisha Prize Program Manager.
Last year, there were 8 finalists from every corner of the African continent including winner Joel Mwale, a native of Kenya who founded SkyDrop Enterprises, a rainwater filtration and bottling company that recently celebrated its 100,000th bottle sold. “My friends thought I was crazy and my mummy termed me ‘over-ambitious’, but in the end, I have disproved them – and also assisted them” – Joel Mwale
The Anzisha Prize celebrates young entrepreneurs in the private and social sectors – both for-profit efforts that generate employment for other members of the community, and non-profit efforts that address entrenched social problems in the community. Applicants will be evaluated on the impact, ingenuity, and scalability of their entrepreneurial efforts.
“We will comb Africa in search of young people ages 15 to 20 who are creating value and addressing pain points in their communities by launching innovative for-profit and non-profit ventures. We will publicly celebrate the winners, giving away over $85,000 dollars in Prize money and broadcasting their stories across Africa and around the world,” said Chris Bradford,
Founder and Executive Vice President of African Leadership Academy. “By sharing the stories of these incredible role models with other African youth, we hope to ignite their passions and inspire their confidence to follow in the footsteps of their fellow leaders and entrepreneurs.”
Visit www.anzishaprize.org to download the application form and review submission instructions. Application deadline is May 1, 2012. Early submissions are highly encouraged.
About the Anzisha Prize
The Anzisha Prize is managed out of African Leadership Academy’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership, which was established through a $1.6 million multi-year partnership with The MasterCard Foundation. Through the Anzisha Prize, we seek to catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship among youth across the continent. For more information visit
www.anzishaprize.org.