{"id":49347,"date":"2023-11-25T08:54:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T08:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwandan-entrepreneur-albert-munyabugingo-wins-over-rwf120-million-as-africa-s\/"},"modified":"2023-11-27T15:33:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T15:33:23","slug":"rwandan-entrepreneur-albert-munyabugingo-wins-over-rwf120-million-as-africa-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwandan-entrepreneur-albert-munyabugingo-wins-over-rwf120-million-as-africa-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwandan entrepreneur Albert Munyabugingo wins over Rwf120 million as Africa&#8217;s Business Heroes 2023 concludes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Africa&#8217;s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize competition, in its fifth consecutive year, is a philanthropic initiative sponsored by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy. <\/p>\n<p>Munyabugingo, among the ten finalists, was selected from a pool of over 27,000 applicants spanning all 54 African nations after months of meticulous evaluation by a panel of esteemed judges. <\/p>\n<p>The finalists represented eight countries: Rwanda, Benin, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Munyabugingo, is one of ten African entrepreneurs who will share a grant of US$1.5 million from ABH. The grand finale, coinciding with the celebration of ABH&#8217;s fifth anniversary, saw three entrepreneurs from Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria emerge as the top winners of the 2023 grants.<\/p>\n<p>The grand prize of $300,000 went to Dr. Ikpeme Neto, the CEO and founder of Wellahealth Technologies in Nigeria. The first runner-up, Thomas Njeru, CEO and co-founder of Kenyan agriculture company Pula Advisors Limited, secured $250,000. The second runner-up, Ayman Bazaraa, CEO and co-founder of Egyptian education and training company Sprints, received $150,000.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Munyaneza, the other seven innovators were awarded $100,000 each. Notable among them are Bola Bardet, CEO and co-founder of Susu, a Beninese healthcare company; Ismael Belkhayat, CEO and founder of Moroccan fintech company Chari; and Mohammed Ali, founder and CEO of Egyptian electrical company iLock. <\/p>\n<p>The list also includes Sierra Leonean Nthabiseng Mosia, co-founder of energy distributing company Easy Solar, and Theo Baloyi, CEO and founder of South African retail company Bathu, along with Christina Mawuse Gyisun, CEO and co-founder of Sommalife, a Ghanaian agriculture enterprise.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2019, six Rwandan entrepreneurs have received a total of $485,000 in funding from the Alibaba initiative. <\/p>\n<p>These include Albert Munyabugingo, founder of Vuba Vuba; Francine Munyaneza, founder of Munyax Eco; Yvette Ishimwe, founder and CEO of IRIBA Water Group; Christelle Kwizera, founder of Water Access Rwanda; and Kevine Kagirimpundu, co-founder and CEO of UZURI K&#038;Y.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61519\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/munyabugingo_yavuze_ko_ubu_vuba_vuba_igemura_ibicuruzwa_ku_bagera_ku_1200_ku_munsi-e6b40.jpg\" alt=\"Munyabugingo, is one of ten African entrepreneurs who will share a grant of US$1.5 million from ABH.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61520\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/ubwo_munyabugingo_yari_imbere_y_akanama_nkemurampaka_agaragaza_uko_vuba_vuba_iri_gufasha_mu_mibereho_myiza_y_abanyarwanda-d41c3.jpg\" alt=\"Munyabugingo pitching his project at the grand finale in Kigali. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61523\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/umuyobozi_wa_vuba_vuba_munyabugingo_albert_yatsindiye_miliyoni_123_frw-284f2.jpg\" alt=\"Munyabugingo was selected from a pool of over 27,000 applicants. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61518\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/dr_ikpeme_neto_wo_muri_nigeria_washinze_ikigo_gitanga_serivisi_z_ikoranabuhanga_mu_buzima_cya_wellahealth_technologies_yegukanye_miliyoni_370_frw-11eda.jpg\" alt=\"The grand prize of $300,000 went to Dr. Ikpeme Neto, the CEO and founder of Wellahealth Technologies in Nigeria. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61521\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/umunya-kenya_thomas_njeru_watsinze_ikigo_cy_ubuhinzi_cya_pula_advisors_limited_wabaye_uwa_kabiri_ahabwa_ibihumbi_250_angana_na_miliyoni_308_frw-f594b.jpg\" alt=\"Thomas Njeru, CEO and co-founder of Kenyan agriculture company Pula Advisors Limited, secured $250,000.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61522\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/umunyamisiri_ayman_bazaraa_uri_mu_bashinze_ikigo_cyita_ku_burezi_cya_sprints_yahawe_ibihumbi_150_arenga_miliyoni_185_frw-45127.jpg\" alt=\"The second runner-up, Ayman Bazaraa, CEO and co-founder of Egyptian education and training company Sprints, received $150,000.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61516\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/34865.jpg\" alt=\"The three entrepreneurs from Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria who emerged as the top winners of the 2023 ABH&#039;s grant.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61517\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/ba_rwiyemezamirimo_icumi_basaranganyijwe_miliyari_imwe_na_miliyoni_700_frw-36fbc.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-61515\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/abakemurampaka_bari_kumwe_na_ba_rwiyemezamirimo_10_bageze_mu_cyiciro_cya_nyuma_cy_amarushanwa_ya_abh-2eea4.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{Rwandan entrepreneur Albert Munyabugingo, the founder of Vuva Vuba Africa Ltd, a delivery company, has secured a remarkable victory by walking away with a prize of US$100,000 as Africa&#8217;s Business Heroes 2023 concluded its grand finale on Friday, November 24th, 2023, at Kigali Convention Centre.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000061514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-49347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default 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