88 Business Collective, Absa honour female entrepreneurs
Five female founders were recently honoured, for their achievements following an 18-month accelerator programme, hosted by 88 Business Collective and sponsored by Absa, at an awards ceremony at Absa's innovation lab in Cape Town.
L to R (front): Antoinette Prophy, Suraya Williams, Precious Kyriakides, Mampho Sotshongaye, Olivia Ngweni and Robyn Clay.L to R (back): Zandile Nyawo and Charmaine Lambert from Absa.
The aim of the awards is to recognise the rising generation of female founders and acknowledges the hard work these founders have put in to make a difference not only the Cape Town ecosystem but the broader entrepreneurial landscape.
“We believe this is the African Century and it will be driven by determined female founders,” said Antoinette Prophy, founder at 88 Business Collective. “It is tough being a women in South Africa and being a female founder compounds this struggle.”
Top achievers
The five top achiever awards went to:
The 88BCAfrica Accelerator Programme provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to participate in an authentic ecosystem of support fueled by data-driven interventions, according to Prophy. The structured programme includes support from an advisory board, a business coach and management consultants.
“We are passionate about harnessing our collective African power and the programme is driven by our Growth Through Collaboration methodology, it is truly exciting to acknowledge this journey through our awards as we aim to accelerate world-class African businesses,” said Prophy.
Absa supported the initiative in line with its strategy to be an active force for good and to play a shaping role in society. “As one of the sponsors of the event and venue it was a privilege for Absa to be one of the sponsors celebrating not only the winners of this program but also all the women that were part of this program and the diverse support that they received as well as the community that is part of the village of 88 Business Collective,” shares Charmaine Lambert, who manages the Absa Innovation Lab.
“It once again demonstrates that anything is possible when we co-create, collaborate and challenge ourselves." notes Lambert.
