Legatum Africa Entrepreneurship Awards 2011 Launched in Nairobi
Legatum which is a private international investment group and Omidyar Network (a philanthropic investment firm) have today announced the launch of the 2011 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship. The the Africa Awards is open to entries from every African country unlike before when it was limited to a few countries.
Video about the award of 2010
[youtube width=”600″ height=”450″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEvVbOdxhU[/youtube]
The awards doesn’t make sense to me though considering the amount spent on marketing while the requirements are stiff and unreasonable. Why should a US $ 1 – 5 Million annual revenue company fight for a US $100,000 prize? Anyway, owners of such enterprises may submit entries online at www.africaawards.com until August 24, 2011. The winner will be announced in Nairobi on 9th December.
The Grand Prize Winner will receive US$ 100,000 and five other companies will receive awards of US$ 50,000 each. It simply still not sensible for me considering that even now CNN, Google Adwords and other social media outlets are running the adverts which costs millions to fund. But with almost 0% interest, you loose nothing by fighting for the pie.
Kenya’s Kamal Budhabhatti of Craft Silicon Ltd won the US $100,000 in the Africa Awards 2010. Some of the other US $50,000 winners were
- Mellech Engineering & Construction Ltd. (Nairobi, Kenya) – Mellech is a construction and infrastructure engineering company offering services in construction of building projects, roads, and water & sewerage projects and related of civil engineering infrastructure projects.
- Planbuild Technology Services Ltd. (Kampala, Uganda)- Incorporated in Uganda in December 2000, Planbuild Technical Services Limited has grown from strength and in the process progressively gained valuable experience in the broad field of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering sectors.
- Sigma Electric PLC (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) – SIGMA Electric PLC is a multi-disciplinary Electro-Mechanical Engineering Company established in 1999.
- Tutuka Software (Pty) Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa)- Tutuka provides innovative and simple software solutions for gift vouchers or cards, prepaid cash replacement and loyalty programmes.
- Wilkins Engineering Ltd. (Accra, Ghana) – Wilkins Engineering Limited was established in 1993 as an engineering firm. Since its inception, it has grown from a one-man consulting business to the forefront of the electrical engineering field. We have worked in collaboration and with a number of companies in the area of Project Concept, Design and Construction.
What do you think of the award? Will you apply? Leave your comments below.