Judges selected for Anzisha Prize

Image courtesy of Anzisha Prize Facebook page.

Judges

• George Bakka, Ugandan, is the founder and CEO of Angels Initiatives. In addition to being an Anzisha Fellow, he is also an Acumen and Educate Fellow.
  
• Heba Gamal, Egyptian is an entrepreneurship and technology expert and the MD of Endeavor Egypt, a non-profit organisation focused on supporting high-impact entrepreneurs.
  
• Sangu Delle, Ghanaian, is an entrepreneur, author, clean water activist, Soros Fellow and TEDGlobal Fellow. He is the founder and CEO of Golden Palm Investments (GPI); an investment holding and advisory company focused on building world class companies in Africa.
  
• Willy Mukiny Yav, Congolese, is the co-founder and Director of Pygma Group. He served as a judge for Anzisha in 2014 and enabled clear understanding of the francophone ventures for fair assessment.

Representative finalists

The 12 finalists for Anzisha Prize were selected from an initial pool of 494 young entrepreneurs, up from 339 applications in 2014. It has attracted applicants from 33 African countries, with finalists from Zimbabwe and Ethiopia identified for the first time this year. Applications were also received from a diversity of sectors, with agriculture having the most applicants.

Now in its fifth year, The Anzisha Prize will be celebrating these outstanding young people during Global Entrepreneurship Week joining the worldwide festivities. Finalists for the Anzisha Prize win a share of $75,000 and access to ongoing support to scale their enterprises and expand their impact.

The finalists will pitch their ventures to the judges on Monday 16 November. The panel will consider each project on its own merits in responsiveness to a market opportunity or social need, ingenuity, scalability and impact. The grand prizewinner will be announced at a prestigious awards ceremony on Tuesday 17 November at Room Five in Rivonia, Johannesburg.

"It is essential that we encourage conversation and deliberation on the potential for youth to impact African economies through entrepreneurship in a multifaceted dialogue with cross-sector, cross-continent, cross-cultural contribution," says Grace Kalisha, Senior Manager for the Anzisha Prize. "We are pleased and encouraged that such an esteemed panel would engage critically with our finalists for the Anzisha Prize this year."

The Anzisha Prize team is running a social media campaign where members of the public can vote for their favourite entrepreneur and offer words of support and encouragement on the Anzisha website (anzishaprize.org) and on Facebook. An award will be given to the finalist receiving the largest number of votes. The goal is to support them on their Anzisha journey and share their success stories with other youth.

For more information, go to www.anzishaprize.org and www.facebook.com/anzishaprize.