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MTN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGE POWERED BY JUMIA
MTN Powered Entrepreneurship by Jumia Challenge
By: Nicholas Paul Griffin
I
n February 2016, in Lagos, Nigeria, a brand new Pan-African competition was launched, the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge (MTNEC) Powered by Jumia.
The first of its kind in Africa, the competition brought together over 1,000 entrepreneurs, students and investors to collaborate on ways to amplify and 2
MTNEC powered by Jumia - Continental
consolidate the continent’s entrepreneurs. Offering over $75,000 worth of prizes, the competition targeted over 60 universities in 13 countries across Africa, challenging students to develop a unique digital application or smart solution that will solve a tangible problem faced on the continent.
Entrepreneurship MTNEC challenges students to develop a unique digital application or smart solution that will solve a tangible problem faced on the African continent.
Bertille Guitton Head of Communication and PR Jumia Group
Jumia Group The inaugural year of the prize was powered by African e-commerce giants Jumia, a group aiming to create a connected digital Africa by bringing together African consumers and entrepreneurs to do better business together. Bertille Guitton is Head of Communication and Public Relations for the Jumia group, and was involved in the running of the MTNEC competition. Ms Guitton spoke with Aspire Africa recently to give us the lowdown on the first year of this important prize. “When we look at Jumia and what we built,” she says, “be it our own logistic fleet, the cash
on delivery payment option, which had never been heard of in developed markets, or our own mobile money wallet, we truly adapted to the realities of the African countries in which we operate and the behaviours of the African consumer.” Jumia’s operations have highlighted the necessity of providing local solutions to local challenges. Furthermore, the group has been promoting African entrepreneurship for several years, through various platforms. “Our J-Force program allows more than 70,000 sales consultants to make a living for themselves and pursue their entrepreneurial adventures; to local brands, African vendors Aspire Africa · Jan/Feb 2017
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Judges of the MTNEC Challenge: (R to L) Jeremy Hodara - co-CEO of Jumia Group, Prof. Walter Baets - Director, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, Herman Singh - MTN Group Chief Digital Officer
and SMEs, we give our platform to showcase their products and reach out to millions of clients.” The MTNEC is the next stage in the group’s long-running commitment to supporting entrepreneurship in Africa. With a focus on sustainable and responsible digital solutions, the prize reflects both Jumia and MTN Solution Space’s passion for responsible e-business. “It was born out of a desire to show the world the amazing innovations and ideas that come out of the African continent and help the entrepreneurs who carry those ideas turn them into great start-ups and companies, with a particular focus on innovative digital solutions.” The MTN Solution Space came out of a partnership between MTN and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in 2014, beginning as an African innovation hub, 4
MTNEC powered by Jumia - Continental
and seeking to inspire, nurture and equip the next generation of African innovators. Through learning and exchanging, MTN Solution Space provides an environment where students, entrepreneurs and researchers are free to develop innovative solutions to the challenges facing the African people.
Entrepreneurial Challenges Being an entrepreneur and working on a start-up in Africa is not always an easy task. The drive and passion is there, but the infrastructure is lacking, with government support being variable and access to investment extremely limited. “We wish to change this,” Ms Guitton says, “and provide those entrepreneurs with an outlet for their project: we give them a voice
MTNEC was born out of a desire to show the world the amazing innovations and ideas that come out of the African continent.” Bertille Guitton
Entrepreneurship
Sarah-Anne Arnold Solution Space Manager for sure, as this challenge was media-tised, and will be even more so next year.” These two prominent African companies, MTN and Jumia, also provide entrepreneurs with mentorship and infrastructures, allowing them to put all of their energy and focus into the development of their start-up. “Most of all,” Ms Guitton goes on to say, “we give them visibility in Africa and abroad to make sure that when the time comes, their beautiful project will be able to get access to investment.” The first year of the competition received close to 1,529 applications in less than a month, with tremendous digital projects in the fields of education, health, tourism, power, hospitality and many more from 26 different African countries. “Clearly, the drive is there,” she adds, understanding the huge potential that remains
untapped in African entrepreneurship, “the projects are there. We are simply there to promote their adventure and lend them a helping hand along the way.” The prize is made up of a wide range of judges from several different backgrounds, industries and business, all with one important thing in common, a shared passion for the promotion of entrepreneurship in Africa. Jérémy Hodara, the co-CEO of Jumia Group, is a thriving entrepreneur himself, having successfully launched and managed more than 9 services in 23 African countries, including Jumia, Jumia Market, Jumia Travel, Jumia Food, Jumia House, Jumia Jobs and more. Before this, Jérémy spent seven years working at McKinsey in France, India, and the USA, consulting clients in retail and e-commerce, and graduated from HEC Paris with a Master’s degree in Management Science. Aspire Africa · Jan/Feb 2017
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The competition’s inaugural finalists
MedRX app enables patients to ask medical
were Pass NG from Nigeria, Vicoba from Tanzania and MedRX from Ghana.
and related questions, receiving answers from verified healthcare professionals.
Inaugural winner of the prize was Ghana’s MedRX, based in Accra, an interactive health platform for all users who have health needs Herman Singh is the Group Chief Digital Officer of MTN, is coach and mentor to many young professionals and is at the forefront of programmes for both their education and development. He has co-authored a textbook in the field of Operations Management. The competition’s inaugural finalists also represent an eclectic mix of talent, bringing to light all the very best that African entrepreneurship has to offer, and setting an extremely high bar for those wishing to enter the competition in coming years. Pass.ng is a web, desktop and mobile-based CBT examination preparatory and testing platform, with a vision to help candidates excel in all the major Nigerian examinations and tests, represented by the team of Samson Abioye, Abayomi Akanji and Oluwaseun Oluyemi. Tanzania’s Village Community Banks (Vicoba) is an important instrument of development 6
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work, allowing people who do not have access to conventional bank accounts to access informal investment groups. The Vicoba app creates a collaborative platform that includes existing tools for financial and task management in a way that is uniquely adapted for the African market. The company’s team is made up of Sofia Mwaliza and Justice Donatus. The inaugural winner of the prize was Ghana’s MedRX, based in Accra, an interactive health platform for all users who have health needs. The app connects users to health personnel from various fields including hospital, pharmacy, laboratory and academia. MedRX enables patients to ask medical and related questions, receiving answers from verified healthcare professionals and identifying the medication they need, as well as being able to find the pharmacies and hospitals closest to them.
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MTN Solution Space building
To provide assurance, MedRX verifies the legitimacy of those providing medical advice and assistance and guarantees confidentiality and the security of personal information. The MedRX team is made up of Victoria Acheampong, Hayford Brako and Yannick Ambig. The team at the MedRX had the following to say about its product: “Health is a very important way to move any nation forward, and this trend can be seen across the African continent.” As a team, we wanted to make this integral connection easier between medical resources and the people on the ground, and the MedRX application does just this.” “The implementation of our application will give us the opportunity to be more effective in our country and create positive change and it will be our ultimate goal to upscale and take
this positive change to everyone across Africa. We truly hope that this is the beginning of a very bright future for us.” The future certainly looks bright for the MTNEC prize and Jumia’s role in promoting it. Ms Guitton gave us a final indication of the group’s future plans in continuing to champion African entrepreneurship. “First of all,” she says, “the first objective is for us to accompany and provide mentorship and guidance to the finalists of this year. The challenge does not stop when they receive the prize, it only begins then.” “Secondly, we look forward to organising the second edition of the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge by Jumia in 2017, taking in all our learnings from last year and making it even bigger and better.” ASPIRE
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www.Aspire-Africa.com
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