Partner content: Africa’s Business Heroes
Across Africa, a new generation of entrepreneurs is quietly transforming the continent’s economic and social landscape. They are not waiting for opportunity – they are creating it. In every sector, from finance to food, transport to technology, these founders are proving that Africa’s most valuable resource is its people’s ability to innovate from within.
As the Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize Competition marks its seventh year, its Top 10 finalists embody what progress in Africa truly looks like: creativity grounded in context, business models built for resilience, and impact that reaches far beyond profit.
Innovation rooted in reality
African entrepreneurs are not solving hypothetical problems, they are responding to lived realities.
In Kenya, Wyclife Omondi, co-founder of BuuPass, is reimagining mobility across the continent. His digital ticketing platform powers most of Kenya’s train system and connects passengers to hundreds of transport operators. “Reliable movement changes everything – access to work, education, and connection,” he says.
Another Kenyan, Abraham Mbuthia, co-founder of Uzapoint, is helping small shops become smarter and more profitable through digital point-of-sale tools and embedded financing. More than 3,500 businesses now use his platform. “Africa’s small retailers deserve the same intelligence and efficiency as big corporations,” he notes.
And Janet Kuteli, CEO of Fortune Credit, is expanding access to finance for Kenya’s farmers, traders, and women entrepreneurs. Her company has already served over 30,000 clients. “Financial inclusion is about freedom – the ability to grow on your own terms,” she says.
Agriculture, reimagined
In Tanzania, entrepreneurs are using technology to strengthen food systems and reduce waste. Baraka Chijenga, co-founder of Kilimo Fresh Foods, connects smallholder farmers to retailers through a digital marketplace that has cut post-harvest losses by 40%. “When we fix supply chains, we fix livelihoods,” he says.
Fellow Tanzanian Diana Orembe, co-founder of NovFeed, is turning agricultural waste into sustainable fish feed and biofertilisers. Her innovation reduces feed costs by up to 40% while boosting yields. “We’re showing that green technology can start at the grassroots,” she explains.
From Senegal, Siny Samba is building one of West Africa’s fastest-growing food companies. Her venture, Le Lionceau, transforms locally grown crops into nutritious baby food, working with more than 3,000 farmers. “We’re feeding Africa’s children with what our soil produces,” she says. “That’s how we secure our future.”
Health, access, and technology
Elsewhere, technology is reshaping how Africans access essential services.
In South Africa, Adriaan Kruger, founder and CEO of nuvoteQ, is digitising global clinical research. His software platforms already manage 1.5 million patient records and serve 400 research centres worldwide. “Africa can lead in health innovation,” he says. “We have the talent and the urgency to do it.”
In Cameroon, Jean Lobe Lobe founded Waspito, a digital health network connecting over one million users to doctors, labs, and preventive-care tools. “Technology is the bridge that makes healthcare accessible and affordable,” he says.
In Egypt, Gohar Zaki, founder of Suplyd, is digitising the restaurant supply chain for more than 5,000 businesses. His platform brings transparency, financing, and reliability to one of Africa’s largest informal sectors. “Digitisation levels the playing field,” he explains. “It gives small businesses the structure they need to compete.”
Making and manufacturing at home
In Rwanda, Mukasahaha Diane, founder of DIKAM, is proving that large-scale manufacturing can thrive in Africa. Her garment and textile company produces over 10,000 pieces a day and has trained hundreds of women and youth in industrial skills. “We’re building products that carry the ‘Made in Rwanda’ mark proudly,” she says. “Every job we create is part of that story.”
A different kind of success story
What unites these entrepreneurs isn’t a single sector or country – it’s perspective. Each has built a business that responds directly to their community’s needs, yet each carries lessons for the world: that growth can be inclusive, that sustainability can be profitable, and that African innovation isn’t waiting to emerge – it’s already shaping markets globally.
Collectively, the 2025 ABH Top 10 operate in over 70 countries, serve more than 1.5 million people, and create thousands of jobs. But their greatest impact is less visible: they’re reframing how African success is defined.
Where others see constraints, they see catalysts. Where infrastructure lags, they build systems. Where opportunity is uneven, they create access.
Defining Africa’s future, today
The theme for this 7th edition, Defining Africa’s Future Today reflects a shift that’s already underway. Africa’s entrepreneurs are not future leaders in waiting; they are today’s architects of progress.
Their work is proof that the continent’s transformation won’t come solely from foreign investment or top-down policy, but from the ground up, from people who understand the nuances of their markets and the needs of their communities.
As these ten founders gather in Kigali this December, they represent more than competition finalists. They represent a movement of doers, dreamers, and innovators changing how the world sees Africa and how Africa sees itself.
Because the continent’s future won’t be written elsewhere. It’s already being built here – one idea, one enterprise, one entrepreneur at a time.
Join us in Kigali on 12–13 December 2025 for the ABH Summit & Grand Finale to meet these entrepreneurs and experience the power of African innovation firsthand. Register to attend at www.africabusinessheroes.org.
