06 Sep 2021

Botswana’s sole nominee in the Jack Ma Foundation flagship programme, Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), Mr Ketshephaone Jacob says being among Africa’s top 20 entrepreneurs is a huge leap.

Mr Jacob, who is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of The Bulb World, is among the 2021 Top 20 outstanding African entrepreneurs, nominated for the prestigious award.

In an interview, Mr Jacob said whilst winning was the ultimate prize, going through all stages of the competition was an achievement as it gave them an opportunity to learn and grow as a business.

Mr Jacob, who was chosen from over 12 000 entries selected by a prestigious pool of 233 judges, said judges gave them feedback and advice on areas to improve in their business.

“The ABH network has also supported us in gaining access into other markets for opportunities of distributing our products,” he said.

Mr Jacob and the rest of the Top 20 African entrepreneurs are currently undergoing various training and evaluation where Top 10 will be announced in September or early October.

“These will be headed to the grand finale where they will each pitch their business ideas live to global business legends in November to determine who takes what share of the US$ 1.5 million prize pool,” reads ABH recent statement.

This year’s Top 20 entrepreneurs represent 11 African countries, including four from Nigeria, one from Botswana, two from South Africa, three from Kenya, three from Uganda, two from Egypt , while Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Ghana, Tanzania and Rwanda each has one nominee.

The ABH in their statement said the nominees are in sixteen different sectors being agriculture, beauty and wellness, construction, consulting, education, energy, environmental protection, financial services, Food and Beverages, healthcare, ICT, logistics, manufacturing, media and entertainment, retail, and transportation.

The judging revolves around visionary entrepreneurs in Africa who are providing innovative and robust solutions to problems in their communities.

The ABH awards grant funding to 10 outstanding African start-ups and entrepreneurs and the winner receives US$300 000, which is about P3.4 million.

The first runner up receives US$250,000 (about P2.7 million), the second runner up receives US$150,000 (about P1.6 million) and seven others in the top 10 each receives US$100,000 cash, (about P1.01 million) , on top of other networking, learning opportunities and support.

The Bulb World, is Botswana’s leading LED lights manufacturing Company, whose products are currently available in 352 outlets across Botswana.

The products are available in retail giants such as such as Spar, Pick and Pay, Shoprite Group, Builders Warehouse, Choppies and other local distributors. Ends