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Africa’s Business Heroes Unveils Community Leads and Launches New Scaleup Program

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Business-Heros

Entrepreneurs and SMEs across Africa have until 6th June to submit their applications for 2022 ABH Grant

KIGALI, Rwanda, April 22, 2022/APO Group/ — 

The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) prize competition (www.AfricaBusinessHeroes.org) has announced a new Community Lead and ScaleUp Program to provide more enhanced mentoring and networking opportunities for ABH applicants and finalists.

Now in its fourth year, applications for the ABH grant are currently open in both French and English and the competition has already drawn talented entrepreneurs from almost all of the 54 African countries. Entrants have come from a diverse spectrum of sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, Education, Fashion, Healthcare, Business Services, Media and Entertainment. To date, 32% of the entrants are female and 68% are male. As a Pan-African and all-inclusive initiative, ABH is encouraging entrepreneurs and small-business owners to join the competition and stand the chance to gain many of its benefits including access to training, mentorship and a pool of USD $1.5 million.

ABH has also announced the newly launched ABH Community Lead initiative to foster greater connection and engagement among ABH finalists and applicants. This program will be introduced in and led by:

  • Egypt, Cairo – Khadija El Bedweihy, PraxiLabs (https://PraxiLabs.com) (2021 1st Place Winner)
    ABH Local Community Lead for North Africa

“I immediately accepted this opportunity. Spreading the word to everyone I know and everyone I can reach about what ABH can do for their startups, how it can impact them just seems right. I am looking forward to lots of events, networking and knowledge-sharing and give-back.”

  • Nigeria, Lagos – Chibuzo Opara, DrugStoc (www.DrugStoc.com) (2019 Top 10 Finalist)
    ABH Local Community Lead for Anglophone West Africa (Lagos, Nigeria)

“It’s great to be part of this amazing program. I feel humbled to be a community lead working with entrepreneurs out of Nigeria to enable them to leverage the ABH platform to solve their challenges and create African business giants. Excited about the next couple of years – watch this space guys!”

  • Cote D’Ivoire, Abidjan – Moulaye Taboure, ANKA (https://bit.ly/3uZRg2I) (2019 Top 10 Finalist)
    ABH Local Community Lead for Francophone West Africa

“As the first francophone to ever be in the TOP10 (and the only at the time), I know for a fact that our region has just as much talented as Anglophone Africa. So, I am extremely proud and confident to help more heroes hail from Francophone Africa, watch out for us!”

  • Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa – Patricia Nzolantima, Bizzoly Holdings (www.WorkingLadiesCabs.com) (2020 Top 50 Finalist)
    ABH Local Community Lead for Francophone Africa

“As a community lead, I hope to bring value, guidance, support and the necessary resources to DRC’s entrepreneurs. I hope to help entrepreneurs to believe in their dream and trust their process because entrepreneurship is a journey, not a destination. Entrepreneurs are the future of Africa!”

  • Kenya, Nairobi – Charlot Magayi, Mukuru Clean Stoves (www.MukuruStoves.org) (2021 Top 10 Finalist)
    ABH Local Community Lead for East Africa

“I am excited to be working with ABH as the local connect lead for Kenya. I hope my participation enables ABH to discover more heroes especially in East Africa and encourages more young people to pursue entrepreneurship.”

  • South Africa, Cape Town – Mampho Sotshongaye, Golden Rewards 1981cc (www.GoldenRewards1981cc.co.za) (2021 Top 20 Finalist)
    ABH Local Community Lead for Southern Africa

“This program enables entrepreneurs to engage with local counterparts, encourage one another as well as showcase their best entrepreneurial abilities. Creating platforms of empowerment is something that is dear to my heart. I am grateful to be given a role to contribute and encourage entrepreneurs to dream big.”

In each of these countries, Community Leads will have a platform to engage, collaborate and build a strong entrepreneurial community in their local markets. They will be organizing a range of offline events for ABH finalists including coffee, outdoor activities, discussions and vision boarding as well as events for ABH applicants such as information and networking sessions, ABH Show viewing parties and livestreams of the ABH Grand Finale.

Alongside the Community Leads initiative, ABH has also launched a new ABH ScaleUp program. The ScaleUp program will provide ABH entrants with holistic training sessions that cover a critical range of business operational areas for entrepreneurs and small businesses including People & HR Management, Strategy Planning, Financial Management, Growth, Fundraising, and Operations & Execution.

The ScaleUp training program will be led by ABH’s partners. Initial programs will cover a Management Development course led by African Management Institute (www.AfricanManagers.org) will equip managers with skills to empower teams and drive performance; an Investment Readiness program designed by VC4A will teach fundraising, negotiating with equity investors, debt finance and more; FinTech training by 10×1000 (www.10×1000.org) to provide entrepreneurs with the mindset knowledge and skills on the latest fintech topics and technologies to  become drivers of digital economic growth; and Financial Management by the South African Innovation Summit (SAIS) (www.InnovationSummit.co.za) to explore key financial topics around financial management to grow a business.

Beyond the training programs on offer to ABH finalists, the ScaleUp program will also include community-based learning sessions that are open to the wider ABH community including past applicants. One such event will be held this Friday, the 22nd of April at 14:00 GMT | 15:00 WAT | 16:00 CAT | 17:00 EAT and will focus on two topics that are vital to master when becoming a successful entrepreneur “Relationship Building” and “Resilience”. Interested participants can register now by following this link: https://bit.ly/36xopcy

To apply to the 2022 Africa’s Business Heroes competition and gain access to a wide range of benefits, enter your application on ABH’s official site (https://bit.ly/3OqQ6oq). You can also follow Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/36yDUB9), Twitter (https://bit.ly/3Or4fCd), Facebook (https://bit.ly/3L39gil) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/3kgDMtn).

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH).

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Ministers among hundreds of energy-sector leaders to attend AOW event

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Sinclair

The event kicks off with an invitation-only ministerial symposium focused on the theme of “Fostering innovation, attracting investment, and promoting sustainable growth in the oil, gas, and energy sectors”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 4, 2024/APO Group/ — 

AOW: Investing in African Energy (https://AOWEnergy.com) – Africa’s leading oil, gas and energy event – has confirmed attendance for more than 80 ministers and senior officials, representing African governments, energy departments and regulators at next month’s event.

These influential stakeholders will be among the more than 1 600 senior delegates and industry leaders who will be attending the event to develop policy, share discoveries, secure investment, and shape Africa’s energy future.

The event kicks off with an invitation-only ministerial symposium focused on the theme of “Fostering innovation, attracting investment, and promoting sustainable growth in the oil, gas, and energy sectors.”

Given the recent major oil-and-gas discoveries across Africa, the energy transition and major geopolitical events, it is clear that the energy sector needs positive intervention

Among the officials and government ministers attending will be energy leaders from South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Eswatini, Uganda, CAR, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Gabon, Malawi, Morocco, Zanzibar, Liberia, Senegal, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone.

In addition, the event will feature high-level delegations from numerous national oil companies, as well as multilateral bodies including the African Union, (AU), African Energy Commission (AFREC), African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) and the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

AOW will see these energy leaders networking with C-suite executives and decision-makers from more than 760 top energy companies at daily networking events, to discuss insights, forge new relationships, and negotiate major energy deals.

“We are so excited to see the calibre of delegates at this year’s AOW event,” says Chief Executive Officer of Sankofa Events, Paul Sinclair. “Given the recent major oil-and-gas discoveries across Africa, the energy transition and major geopolitical events, it is clear that the energy sector needs positive intervention. The high-powered attendance proves AOW is a key platform to enable this intervention.”

Key themes to be discussed at this year’s AOW will be sustainable upstream development; expanding gas value chains; renewables and new energies; adoption of best-in-class technologies; and access to finance.

AOW: Investing in African Energy will culminate in a special anniversary party at Groot Constantia Vineyard to celebrate 30 years of the AOW event.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AOW: Investing in African Energy.

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Afreximbank approves US$20.8 million for Starlink Global’s cashew factory project in Lagos

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PAPSS

The facility is expected to promote value addition which will guarantee increased earnings to the company while also fostering the creation of about 400 new jobs

CAIRO, Egypt, October 4, 2024/APO Group/ — 

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) has approved a US$20.8 million financing facility for Nigeria-based Starlink Global & Ideal Limited to enable the company construct and operate a 30,000-metric tonne per annum cashew processing factory in Lagos.

We are delighted at this partnership which promises to deliver significant impact on employment in Nigeria

According to the facility agreement signed in on July 22, 2024, Afreximbank will provide the funds in two tranches with the first tranche of US$7.48M going toward capital expenditure for the construction of the factory and the second, totalling US$13.25M to be deployed as working capital for the operations of the factory.

The facility is expected to promote value addition which will guarantee increased earnings to the company while also fostering the creation of about 400 new jobs once the factory becomes operational. It is also expected to support about 40 small and medium-sized enterprises.

Commenting on the transaction, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra Africa Trade and Export Development, Afreximbank, said that by supporting Starlink Global to establish a modern processing facility, Afreximbank is making it possible for Africa to add value to its agro-commodities, thereby facilitating exports and subsequent inflow of much-needed foreign exchange into the continent.

“We are delighted at this partnership which promises to deliver significant impact on employment in Nigeria. It will contribute to value creation and to the development of the local community while also improving the lots of smallholder farmers and small business suppliers that will work with Starlink across the value chain,” Mrs. Awani added.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

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Sonangol to Lead Decarbonized Oil & Gas (O&G) Development, Says Angolan National Oil Company (NOC) Head

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Sonangol

Participating in an on-stage interview at Angola Oil & Gas 2024, Sonangol CEO Sebastião Gaspar Martins emphasized that oil and gas remains a core focus for the national oil company

LUANDA, Angola, October 3, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Angola’s national oil company Sonangol reiterated its commitment to driving sustainable hydrocarbon development during the Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) conference this week. Speaking during an “In-Conversation with” session, Sonangol CEO Sebastião Gaspar Martins stated that the company will not abandon oil and gas, but rather advance decarbonized oil and gas development.

We are looking at opportunities in the gas sector and have identified the right partner to develop non-associated gas

By investing in upstream oil and gas production while prioritizing low-carbon projects, Sonangol aims to boost national crude output, while diversifying and decarbonizing the industry. The NOC is focusing efforts on non-associated gas development, as well as alternative energy sources such as solar.

“We are looking at opportunities in the gas sector and have identified the right partner to develop non-associated gas. Gas produced from Angola LNG will be used for the production of fertilizer and we are evaluating the utilization of gas in the south of the country, linking gas with steel industries. We also have a blue carbon project, linked to the reduction of carbon through the plantation of mangroves. We have one area in Luanda and have identified four additional areas for this,” stated Gaspar Martins.

Sonangol has undergone transformation in recent years: following the creation of the National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG) in 2019, Sonangol transferred its role as national concessionaire and regulator. This transformation has aimed to make Sonangol more competitive and strengthen its capacity as an upstream operator. Concurrently, the government is partially privatizing the NOC, with privatization set to be complete in 2026. This process will enhance financial capacity, allowing Sonangol to drive new upstream projects forward.

“The transformation of Sonangol started several years ago, when we passed the regulatory, concessionaire role to the ANPG. At the time, we transferred almost 600 employees to the ANPG. After that, Sonangol underwent a restructuring program where we created five core business units from 36 different entities – starting with exploration and production. We want to go public, but we want to do it properly. So, we are currently going through all the processes to do this,” stated Gaspar Martins.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

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