Exceptional Alumni Honoured at the TEF Forum 2017
Meet some of our exceptional alumni here:
JOEL CHEROP
Joel Cherop is a 2015 Ugandan Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur in Agribusiness.He is the Founder of Ataari River Integrated Irrigation Initiative, a horticulture and rice production venture aimed at identifying, training and seeding young people to begin their own agri-business ventures in a model dubbed “Learn as you earn”. They have championed efforts like organising irrigation master-classes in February to help mitigate effects of climate change. In 2016 they hosted His Excellency the President of Uganda to commission an irrigation project and highlight to government the need to scale its investment in irrigation infrastructure to mitigate effects of climate change – currently a threat to Agriculture.
KWABENA DANSO
Kwabena Danso is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from Ghana.He is the Founder and CEO of Booomers Intl, a company that manufactures environmentally friendly bamboo bicycles and related products. Booomers provides more than 40 jobs directly to youth in the rural areas, which indirectly support more than 200 people, while engaging over 20 rural people indirectly through their supply chain, including the harvesting of bamboo, sourcing of sisal fiber and other local components. Booomers has provided over 400 children with scholarships and in 2016, they supported over 150 children in rural areas with access to bikes as a means of transport to school with support from UNICEF.
HOUSSEYNATOU DIALLO
Housseynatou Diallo is a 2016 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from Senegal and founder of BAAXU MAAM COMPANY. Baaxu Maam specializes in the production of 100% natural local fruit juices, without additives or preservatives to combat the rising prevelance of heart diseases caused by such chemicals in food.
The Baaxu Maam Company offers a wide range of local African products such as Bissap; Tamarind and Ginger which improves life expectancy and quality.
NKEM OKOCHA
Nkem Okocha is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from Nigeria.
She is the Founder of Mamamoni, a Fintech Social Enterprise, which provides a platform for individuals to invest in under-served women, by lending to them at affordable rates to fund their businesses. This enables them to increase their livelihood income and break the cycle of poverty. Mamamoni has empowered over 4,000 women since inception
AHMED ABASS
Ahmed Abass is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from Egypt, and founder of SunCity Energy.Sun City Energy is an Egyptian Startup that develops, builds and commercializes Mobile Solar Pumps to fulfil an existing need in the agriculture market. Their innovation is targeting the 500 millions of one-acre farmers across the world who mostly use diesel pumps to irrigate their fields. With the rising oil prices due to phase out of energy subsidies, their Mobile Solar Pump is replacing conventional diesel pumps.
VITAL SOUNOUVOU
Vital Sounouvou is a 2015 ICT Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from BENIN REPUBLIC. His business, Exportunity is an exclusive virtual market that organizes and manages B2C and B2B trade in Africa. He made an open pitch at the 2015 TEF Entrepreneurship Forum and was introduced to UBA Benin. He pursued that lead and today has successfully deployed XportCards, making Exportunity the first e-trade platform in the ECOWAS region, which have the U-COLLECT payment collection solution from UBA. This innovation, puts the e-Trade firm ahead of competitors like eBay and Amazon who are in the sub-saharan African Market.
VICTOR MHANGO
Victor Mhango is a 2016 Agribusiness Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from Malawi. His business, Ziweto Enterprises Limited, has a mission to raise the value of livestock and its contribution to household and national economy.Ziweto has entered into long term agreements with leading global animal health, and is reaching an estimated 5,000 smallholder livestock farmers per month with quality, reliable and affordable veterinary solutions that are revolutionizing the delivery of animal health services in Malawi.
EDWARD SHANGALA
Edward Shangala Mbogo, a 2015 Kenyan Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur developed a mobile service that makes public transport safe, comfortable and fun; with a goal of reducing road accidents in Kenya, most caused by Public Service Vehicles, by up to 50% called MyRide Kenya. This app configures road policing by leveraging recent technology usage trends (SMS, Andriod app and social media) to connect previously detached public transport actors