Meet the 30 prodigies transforming Africa as we speak.
Christian Ngan, Cameroonian
Founder, Madlyn Cazalis
After working in financial services in France, first as an analyst at French
investment bank Quilvest Group and as an associate at Findercord in
Paris, Christian Ngan returned home to Cameroon to start his own
business in 2012. With $3,000 of his savings, he founded Madlyn Cazalis,
an African hand-made bio cosmetic company that produces body oils,
natural lotions, creams, scrubs, masks and soaps. Madlyn Cazalis products
are sold and distributed across more than 30 chemist stores, beauty
institutes and retail outlets in Cameroon and neighboring countries in
Central Africa. The company does not reveal revenues but says it is
profitable. Ngan, 30, is also founder of GoldskyPartners Advisory, a small
financial advisory firm in Cameroon.
Senai Wolderufael, Ethiopian
Founder, Feed Green Ethiopia Exports Company
The 27 year-old Ethiopian entrepreneur is the founder of Feed Green
Ethiopia Exports Company, an Addis Ababa-based outfit that produces
and exports popular Ethiopian spice blends such as Shiro, Mitmita,
Korarima and Berbere. Wolderufael founded the company in 2012
primarily to serve the needs of the Ethiopian diaspora in the United States
and Europe, but as demand for Ethiopian spices increased significantly,
Feed Green began exporting to new markets within Africa. The company
employs only women.
Eric Kinoti, Kenyan
Founder, Shades System East Africa
The 29 year-old Kenyan is the founder of Shades System East Africa, a $1
million (annual sales) company that manufactures military and relief
tents, branded gazebos, restaurant canopies, car parking shades, marquees,
luxury tents, wedding party tents canvas seats and bouncing castles across
the region. The company’s biggest clients are non-governmental and
humanitarian organizations. Based in Nairobi, Shades System exports its
products to Somalia, Congo and Rwanda. The company says it is
profitable and has 18 full-time employees.
Nick Kaoma, South African
Founder, Head Honcho Clothing
South Africa’s own Daymond John in the making, Nick Kaoma is building
an urban legend. The 28 year-old Cape Town native is the founder and
creative director of Head Honcho clothing, a prominent South African
lifestyle brand that designs, manufactures and markets streetwear clothing
that is hugely popular among South Africa’s young urban dwellers. The
company’s product line includes t-shirts and caps to cardigans, varsity
jackets, hoodies, tank tops and female dresses.
Ronak Shah, Kenyan
Founder, Kronex Chemicals Ltd
Shah, a 26 year old Asian-Kenyan, is the founder of Kronex Chemicals
Ltd, a fast-growing manufacturer of low-cost household cleaning
products. Shah founded Kronex in January 2013 and the company has two
products- a dishwashing liquid and a multi-purpose detergent, both of
which are gaining market share amongst Kenya’s lower middle-class.
Issam Chleuh, Malian
Founder, Africa Impact Group
Issam Chleuh, a 27 year-old Malian national and former Ernst & Young
Senior Associate, is the founder of the Africa Impact Group, an
international organization focused on directing investment to socially and
environmentally beneficial ventures, an asset class called Impact
Investing. The company’s services include data & research, news,
advisory services, and start-up incubation. Africa Impact Group’s clients
include impact investors, private equity firms, family offices, leading
African corporations, governments and nonprofits.
Patrick Ngowi, Tanzanian
Founder, Helvetic Group
Patrick Ngowi, 29 is the founder of Helvetic Group, a company that
pioneered the supply, installation and maintenance of solar systems in
Tanzania’s Northern Circuit. Helvetic Solar Contractors continues to
grow. Helvetic did more than $5 million in revenues in 2013 and KPMG
East Africa recently valued the company at $15 million. Helvetic is also
expanding into the South African region and Ngowi is gearing up to take
the company to Dar es Salaam’s capital markets.
Heshan de Silva, Kenyan
Founder, DSGVenCap
After dropping out from school in the United States, Heshan de Silva, 25,
worked briefly for a tea exporting company owned by his parents before
breaking out to start VenCap, a business that sold travel insurance bundled
into long distance bus tickets. The company became profitable very
quickly, grossing over $1 million in revenues within its first year and
setting the pace for travel insurance for bus commuters in Kenya. He is
now a venture capitalist and the founder of DSGVenCap, a company that
makes seed investments in the tech, media, agribusiness and consumer
industries in Kenya.
Julie Alexander Fourie, South African
Founder, iFix
At 26, Julie Alexander Fourie runs a company that employs 40 people and
services more than 4,000 clients a month. Fourie is the founder of iFix,
which repairs and services all Apple products and Samsung Smartphones.
iFix has branches in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Fourie started
the company in 2006 from his dorm room at the University of
Stellenbosch, helping colleagues and friends repaid broken and faulty
iPods and computers. Satisfied friends subsequently referred other Apple
product owners in search of repairs and Fourie’s business took off.
Sangu Delle, Ghanaian
Founder, Golden Palm Investments
Delle, 27 is a co-founder of Golden Palm Investments, a holding company
that invests in early stage venture and growth financing across Africa with
a strong bias for Real Estate, healthcare, agribusiness and technology. GPI
has backed startups such as Solo Mobile in Nigeria, mPharma in Ghana
and Zamsolar in Zambia. He is also the co-founder of cleanacwa, a non-
profit working to provide access to clean water in Ghana’s
underdeveloped regions. Sangu, who previously worked at Goldman
Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Valiant Capital Partners, is currently an MBA
candidate at Harvard.
Uche Pedro, Nigerian
Founder, BellaNaija
The 29 year-old Nigerian media entrepreneur is the founder of BellaNaija,
a thriving new media company that develops online media content for
African (primarily Nigerian) audiences. BellaNaija.com is Nigeria’s
premier lifestyle, entertainment and fashion website, and garners an
average of 10 million page views every month.
Tebogo Ditshego, South African
Founder, Ditshego Media
The 29 year-old South African public relations maverick is the founder of
Ditshego Media, a leading PR firm specializing in Media Relations,
Investor Relations, Reputation Management and Corporate
Communications. Ditshego is also the Chairman of the South African
Reading Foundation.
Bankole Cardoso, Nigerian
CEO, EasyTaxi
Nigeria
Cardoso, 25, is the founder of the Nigerian operations of EasyTaxi, a taxi
mobile App that was founded in Brazil in 2012 by German technology
startup incubator, Rocket Internet GmBH. EasyTaxi serves to connect cab
drivers and would-be passengers. Through the App, passengers can
confirm their pickup point and then order a cab at the click of a button.
EasyTaxi sends the passenger a confirmation of the name and phone
number of your driver and gives passengers the option of tracking their
driver and the vehicle in real-time. Before setting up EasyTaxi in Nigeria,
Cardoso worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Carlyle Group in
New York.
Isaac Oboth, Ugandan
Founder, Media256
Isaac Oboth, 24, is the founder and CEO of Media 256 LTD, a film and
television production company in East Africa. Media 256 was founded in
2011 and has a client list that includes Coca Cola, UNDP, USAID, the
Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, Marie Stopes International, the African
Leadership Network, and the African Leadership Academy. The company
says it is profitable and employs 7 full-time videographers and editors.
Isaac is also an Anzisha Prize Fellow, a pan-African award that celebrates
innovative young African entrepreneurs.
Barclay Paul, Kenyan
Founder/CEO Impact Africa Industries
The 22 year-old Kenyan is the founder of Impact Africa Industries, a
company that produces low cost sanitary pads for poor women in informal
settlements Kenya three years ago and he now sells the pads to as far as
Uganda and South Sudan. The company is located in Kitale, a small town
in Western Kenya and has 23 employees, 15 of whom are women who
help in production and distribution of the sanitary pads. Paul was an
Anzisha Prize Fellow in 2013.
Seth Akumani, Ghanaian
Co-founder and CEO, ClaimSync
Akumani, 30 is a co-founder of ClaimSync, an end-to-end claims
processing software that enables hospitals, clinics and other healthcare
facilities all over the world to automate patients’ medical records and to
process records electronically. Claimsync’s solution allows these
healthcare providers to easily prepare medical claims and send
electronically to health insurance companies. In 2013 ClaimSync was the
sole African company to participate in the high-profile, IBM, Novartis,
GlaxoSmithKline backed Accelerator program HealthXL in Dublin.
ClaimSync was recently acquired by GenKey, a Dutch-based biometrics
company.
Jonathan Liebmann, South African
Real Estate developer, CEO of Propertuity
The 29 year-old South African visionary is the Managing Director of
Propertuity, a South African Real Estate development company and the
brains behind the construction of the Maboneng Precinct, a thriving
cultural district in the east side of Johannesburg’s CBD. Once a neglected
and deteriorating neighborhood housing abandoned industrial complexes,
Liebmann transformed Maboneng into a vibrant urban mixed-use
community complete with Art galleries, artist studios, retail spaces,
offices and artist studios.
Tunde Kehinde, Nigerian
Co-founder, Jumia Nigeria
The 30 year-old Harvard MBA grad recently stepped down as co-founder
of Jumia Nigeria, the country’s largest online retailer. Kehinde founded
Kasuwa, a Nigerian online retailer in 2012. Within days of its founding,
Kasuwa received seed funding from German online startup incubator and
the company’s name was changed to Jumia. Kehinde resigned in January
to start a logistics company.
Adii Pienaar, South African
Founder, Woothemes
Adii Pienaar, 28, is the founder of Woothemes, a company that designs
and develops customizable commercial themes and plugins for
WordPress. Adii built the business with a bootstrap budget, and the
company today generates over $3 million in annual revenues from the sale
of its themes. Woothemes also develops and sells themes for other content
management systems, including Tumblr. Pienaar also runs PublicBeta, a
service that allows successful entrepreneurs to transfer knowledge to new
startups.
Zaheer Cassim, South African
Founder, One Way Up Productions
29 year-old South African media entrepreneur Zaheer Cassim graduated
from Columbia’s Journalism school and returned home to South Africa to
found One Way Up Productions, a television production outfit with a
client list that includes Ogilvy South Africa, Hollard Insurance, the
African Leadership Academy and Hackett.
Mike Muthiga, Kenyan
Founder, Fatboy Animation
Muthiga, 26, is the founder of Fatboy Animation, a Nairobi-based
animation company that produces 3 and 2 dimensional animation for both
film and commercial use. FatBoy Animations has produced several viral
animated commercials for Kenyan blue chips like brands such as
Safaricom, Telkom Orange, Barclays Bank and Jamii
Telecommunications (JTL).
Danson Muchemi, Kenyan
Founder, WebTribe
Muchemi, 29, is the founder of WebTribe Kenya, a leading IT company in
Kenya with operations in online payment systems, web applications and
network security. Webtribe’s flagship company, Jambopay provides e-
payments services for e-commerce players as well as e-ticketing services
and electronic cash disbursement services. Jambopay is a recipient of the
Google Innovation Awards in Financial Services for 2013.
Kunmi Otitoju, Nigerian
Founder, Minku Design
Kunmi, a 30 year-old Nigerian fashion entrepreneur is the founder of
Minku Design, a company that makes leather bags for men and women by
subtly blending Aso-oke fabric (a hand loomed cloth woven by Nigeria’s
Yoruba people), into contemporary leather bag designs. Minku also makes
Yoruba-themed leather purses and jewelry. All Minku Design’s products
are hand-made at a workshop in Barcelona, Spain, but they are sold at
high-end stores in Nigeria and on the company’s website.
Mazen Helmy, Egyptian
Founder, The District
27 year-old Mazen Helmy is the founder of The District, one of the first
co-working spaces in Egypt and one of the few in the region. The District
provides an inspiring workspace (sitting on a total area of almost 1000
square meters) for entrepreneurs and freelancers. Helmy founded the
company in 2011.
Khaled Shady, Egyptian
Founder, Mubser
The 22 year-old Egyptian entrepreneur is the founder of Mubser, a new
assistive tool for blind people. Mubser, which will be launched officially
in March 2014, is a wearable belt with a Bluetooth-connected headset that
leverages RGB imaging and infrared dept data captured by a 3D depth
camera that allows blind and visually impaired people to navigate around
in a safe and easy way. The device recognizes object and obstacles such as
staircases and chairs.
Joel Mwale, Kenyan
Founder, Skydrop Enterprises
Mwale who is now 21 years old founded SkyDrop Enterprises, a rainwater
filtration and bottling company which produces low-cost purified drinking
water, milk and other dairy products in Kenya. In 2012, Mwale sold a 60%
stake in Skydrop to an Israeli firm for $500,000. Next stop: Education.
Last year Mwale founded Gigavia, an educational social networking
website.
Lorna Rutto, Kenyan
Founder, Ecopost Kenya
In 2010,
Lorna Rutto, 28, founded Ecopost, a Kenyan company that
collects consumer plastic waste such as polypropylene and polyethylene
and converts them into durable, easy to use and environmentally friendly
plastic lumber, an eco-friendly alternative to timber which is used to
manufacture fencing posts.
Ashley Uys, South African
Founder, Medical Diagnostech
Ashley Uys, 30, founded Medical Diagnostech which develops and
markets affordable and reliable medical test kits for malaria, pregnancy,
syphilis, malaria, HIV/ Aids for South Africa’s rural poor. Uys is a
recipient of the South African Breweries $100,000 Annual Social
Innovation Awards.
Kimiti Wanjaria, Kenyan
Founders, Serene Valley Properties
Kimiti Wanjaria, 30, is a co-founder of Serene Valley Properties (SVP), a
Real Estate development company in Nairobi that constructs and sells
residential properties to Kenya’s ever-growing middle class. SVP is
behind the development of Sigona Valley project, a $4 million gated
residential community outside Nairobi.
Arthur Zang, Cameroonian
Founder, Cardiopad
Zang, a 26 year-old Cameroonian Engineer is the inventor of the
Cardiopad, a touch screen medical tablet that enables heart examinations
such as the electrocardiogram (ECG) to be performed at remote, rural
locations while the results of the test are transferred wirelessly to
specialists who can interpret them. The device spares African patients
living in remote areas the trouble of having to travel to urban centers to
seek medical examinations. Zang is the founder of Himore Medical
Equipments, the company that owns the rights to the Cardiopad.
Source: Forbes
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