Winners emerge in GT Bank’s $10,000 She Leads Africa Prize

On Saturday September 20th 10 female entrepreneurs from across the continent and diaspora competed for more than $30,000 in cash and prizes at the She Leads Africa Entrepreneur Showcase.

Each finalist had 5 minutes to pitch their businesses and then received questions from the esteemed panel of judges including Hakeem Belo-Osagie (Chairman of Etisalat Nigeria), Ngozi Edozien (CEO of InVivo Partners) Omoyemi Akerele (Founder of Lagos Fashion and Design Week) and Audu Maikori (CEO of Chocolate City Group). Alhaji Aliko Dangote also attended the event and judged several of entrepreneur presentations encouraging the finalists to pursue local manufacturing and develop new industries in Nigeria.

More than 300 people filled the venue as dozens of angel investors and representatives from venture capital companies including Cardinal Stone, Kuramo Capital, Travant Capital, and Metis Capital Partners attended the event looking for investment deals with the next hottest startups.

When determining the winners the judges looked for an idea that had already been tested in the market, ability to scale across markets, a strong management team, clear understanding of the potential risks and challenges and a plan to mitigate them.

The winners of the competition were:

First place: Cherae Robinson is the founder of Tastemakers Africa, the world’s only mobile app dedicated to buying upscale, curated experiences on the African continent. (Diaspora)

Second place: Nour Drissi is the founder of Loue 1 Voiture, the first online platform that enables you to reserve a car from big and small car hire companies in Morocco. (Morocco)

Third place: Taffi Woolward is the founder of Thandos provides a platform that empowers aspiring African artists to design women’s fashion footwear that is comfortable, convenient and affordable. (Nigeria)

Honorable mention: Honey Ogundeyi is the founder of Fashpa.com, an online retailing platform, dedicated to providing African consumers with access to fashion and lifestyle brands. (Nigeria)

GT Bank provided the $10,000 prize for 1st place and $1,000 prize for 3rd place while FSDH Merchant Bank provided the 2nd place prize of $5,000. Huawei also announced the Huawei She Leads Africa Fellowship where 5 entrepreneurs from the She Leads Africa network will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Shenzhen and Shanghai, China to visit the Huawei campus.Nour Drissie from Loue 1 Voiture receieved that prize as selected by the judges.

Premium sponsors such as Etisalat, Africa Practice, Travant Capital and Forbes Woman provided in kind prizes while Laurent Perrier provided complimentary champagne, Eve and Tribe provided styling and makeup for all volunteers, and AfroCab provided free rides to the event.

Source: Enterprise54