50 finalists have been selected for the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), which will offer selected innovative tech startups access to a US$1.5 million prize pool.
The Jack Ma Foundation launched the second edition of ANPI earlier this year. Created by Alibaba founder Jack Ma after his first trip to Africa in 2017, the initiative aims to support the next generation of African entrepreneurs. The first edition was won by Nigerian startup LifeBank in November last year.
The 50 finalists for the second edition were selected from over 22,000 applications from all over Africa, representing 21 African countries. The entrepreneurs, half are which are female, work in 18 sectors, including agriculture, AI, e-commerce, fashion, healthcare, renewable energy and ICT.
Finalists now advance to the next round of selection, which will determine the top20 finalists, and will participate in an exclusive virtual bootcamp today (July 28). Eventually, 10 entrepreneurs will be selected to compete in the grand finale later this year.
