Twelve African entrepreneurs have won a total of US$400,000 in grant funds during from the FINCA Ventures Prize Competition, which supports the impact investment firm’s multi-dimensional approach to ending poverty.
For 40 years, FINCA International has been in the vanguard of the fight to end global poverty, and FINCA Ventures is its impact investing arm, supporting early-stage companies operating within agriculture, financial inclusion, health and education within Sub-Saharan Africa.
The FINCA Ventures Prize Competition, made possible by donor funding, aimed to reward changemakers working across sub-Saharan Africa, improving value-add for local farmers, addressing market gaps in health care, combatting sexual exploitation of female fish traders, and more.
The first-place winners in their categories were Angela Odero, founder of Rio Fish; Ashley Speyer, US partner of Kazi Yetu; Naom Monari, founder of Bena Care; and Sona Shah, co-founder of Neopenda. Each secured US$70,000 for their organisation’s work.
Second-place winners, banking US$20,000, were Baobaby, CheckUps, Sprout, and Technovera/Pelebox, while third-place winners, securing US$10,000, were Emergency Response Africa, Koolbox, OneHealth, and Sommalife.
