At the 2025 ABH Grand Finale, Diana Orembe (Tanzania), Abraham Mbuthia (Kenya), and Adrienne Kruger (South Africa) were awarded funding to build scalable, high-impact businesses across Africa.
Partner Content: Africa's Business Hero
Across Africa, a quiet but decisive change is underway.
Entrepreneurship on the continent is no longer defined by early-stage experiments or a fragmented startup ecosystem. It is being shaped by founders who are building massive businesses across sectors, across borders, and at the core of Africa's economic future.
From healthcare and agriculture to fintech, logistics and energy, a new generation of entrepreneurs are doing more than just launching companies. They are formalizing markets, strengthening supply chains and creating jobs in an environment where structural challenges remain significant.
This is not a trend. This is a change.
And for those building within it, the opportunity and urgency have never been greater.
From proving ideas to increasing impact
For many African founders today, the challenge is no longer proving that their ideas work. It's scaling them.
Access to capital, visibility, strategic networks and cross-border expansion remains uneven, often concentrated in a handful of ecosystems. Yet beyond these centres, extraordinary entrepreneurs are emerging across the continent, building flexible businesses rooted in local realities but designed for scale.
This is where platforms prefer Africa's Business Heroes (ABH) Play a decisive role.
An initiative of Alibaba Philanthropies and the Jack Ma Foundation, ABH has grown from an awards competition to become one of the continent's most influential entrepreneurship platforms, identifying, supporting and amplifying the founders shaping Africa's future.
“Africa’s future is being defined by entrepreneurs solving real challenges at scale,” says Zahra Batty-Boateng, Managing Director for Africa at ABH. “ABH exists to give these founders the visibility, network and support they need to grow beyond their markets.”
A platform that reflects Africa's growth story
Since its launch, ABH has tracked and in many ways anticipated the development of Africa's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Each year, thousands of applications are reviewed to select the top 100 entrepreneurs from across Africa. Through interviews, this is narrowed down to the top 20, who pitch in the semi-finals to determine the top 10 who ultimately win their share of the $1.5 million USD. But beyond the competition structure, what matters is what it represents: the journey from visibility to validation, and from validation to scale.
The 2026 edition reflects this momentum.
With the Top 100 expanding from the Top 50 in previous years due to stronger participation and the growing quality of applicants, as well as increased grassroots engagement, ABH is capturing a broader, more diverse picture of African entrepreneurship, extending far beyond the traditional centres.
The message is clear: no matter where they are based, African entrepreneurs deserve access to the visibility, networks and opportunities they need to grow and tell their story.
What does the impact look like in reality?
The force of this change can be best understood through the founders themselves.
In Tanzania, Diana Orembe, a $300,000 2025 Grand Prize winner, is turning organic waste into sustainable protein through NovFeed, addressing both agricultural inefficiencies and environmental sustainability.
In Kenya, Abraham Mbuthia's Uzapoint, which came in second place, winning $250,000, is enabling small businesses to digitalize operations and access financial services.
In South Africa, third place winner of $150,000, Adriaan Kruger's Nuvotec, is improving health care systems and smart patient data by building Africa's first EU-FDA-compliant digital clinical trials platform.
various fields. Different markets. A common thread: solving real business problems and scaling.
Collectively, ABH entrepreneurs have raised more than $175 million, created more than 123,000 jobs and impacted the lives of more than 37.5 million people across the continent.
Success rarely comes instantly and it matters
Behind many of these success stories is a less visible reality: perseverance.
Henri Osman-Guye, 2024 Grand Prize winner and founder of Aeon, a digital platform that allows hospitals to securely access patient data in real-time even in low-connectivity environments, applied multiple times before being selected. Their journey reflects a broader truth about construction in Africa: progress is iterative, shaped by flexibility, learning and adaptation.
For founders, this is perhaps the most important sign: the right platform not only rewards success, but it supports growth.
More than just funding. scale entrance
While ABH provides a share of $1.5 million in grant funding, the real value goes beyond the award.
It's in the visibility that opens doors.
Networks that unlock partnerships.
Reliability that drives growth.
For many entrepreneurs, ABH is not a finish line, it is a catalyst.
the deadline is approaching
Applications have closed for the 2026 edition of Africa's Business Heroes 28 April 2026.
For founders building solutions with real traction and ambition to scale, the window to apply is narrowing.
Whether you're refining your model, expanding your reach, or preparing for the next step in your growth, this is the moment to move forward.
And for those who have applied before, the message is simple: grow, reapply and move on.
Because across Africa, the future does not wait.
It is being constructed right now.
Apply before 28th April africanbusinessheroes.org