JA Africa concludes 12th COY Awards, rewards change makers
By Zion Rufus
Youth empowering not-for-profit organisation and Africa’s largest high school entrepreneurship competition, Junior Achievement Africa has concluded the 12th edition of its Company of the Year Awards with Zimbabwe’s Hekima Inc emerging overall winner.
Hosted in Nigeria, this 12th edition with the theme “Fueling Changemakers”, marks JA Africa’s return to in-person competitions after two successful virtual events.
The JA Africa Company of the Year (COY) Competition is Africa’s premier pitch competition for high-school youths who have completed the flagship JA Company Program. These youths compete in teams to demonstrate resilience and innovation in dealing with global challenges, and develop businesses that generate wealth.
After competing against thousands of youth startups to qualify for the regional competition, the 3-day event brought together winners from countries across Africa including Seksolin JA Company – Ghana; Aquatech Enterprise – Kenya; Green Apex Africa – Nigeria; Aqua Pure Company – South Africa; Kibega Company – Tanzania; City Multi Tech Stars – Uganda; Moxes Sanitary Sports Ent. – Zambia; Hekima Inc – Zimbabwe; and Time Out Company – Eswatini.
Commenting on the Awards, Simi Nwogwugwu, Chief Executive Officer, JA Africa shared: “I am extremely proud of all our winners tonight. Our aim for the students is to keep them focused on their journey to becoming changemakers. The world needs more of them. And we on our part will continue focusing on equipping them with an entrepreneurial mindset to become solution providers in their communities.”
At third place, Team Eswatini went with certificates and a $500 prize. Bagging their fourth award for the night, Team Green Apex Nigeria came in at second place winning trophies, certificates, and a $800 prize; emerging overall winner and JA Africa’s Company of the Year 2022, Zimbabwe’s Hekima Inc went home with trophies, certificates, grand prize of $1000, and a chance to compete with winners from other regions for the Ralph de la Vega Global Entrepreneurship Competition.
According to Nwogwugwu, winners from the six regions where JA Worldwide operates will compete for awards, $15,000 grand prize, and educational opportunities amongst others.
Winners across other categories judged by Sanyade Okoli – CEO, Alpha African Advisory Limited, Anael Ndosa – Board Director, PMIEF, and Nkechi Ukaiwe – Johnson & Johnson include: Green Apex(Nigeria) — FedEx Global Possibilities Award
Timeout (Eswatini) — Citi Foundation Client Focus Award
Hekima Inc. (Zimbabwe) — pmief Project Management Award
Green Apex (Nigeria) — Johnson & Johnson Innovation Award
City Multi Stars (Uganda) — Delta Social Impact Award
Kibega (Tanzania) — Bloomberg Changemaker Award
Green Apex (Nigeria) — FirstBank Future First Award for Finance
Hekima Inc. (Zimbabwe) — Rise Award
Aquatech (Kenya) — Nascon Allied Industries Entrepreneurial Excellence Award
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