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Africa’s Business Heroes Builds Out Vibrant Ecosystem of Partners and Judges

Entrepreneurs and small business owners will have until June 6 to apply for this year’s edition

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4 years ago

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Business-Heroes

Entrepreneurs and small business owners will have until June 6 to apply for this year’s edition

KIGALI, Rwanda, May 25, 2022/ — The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) prize competition (https://AfricaBusinessHeroes.org) has expanded its ecosystem of partners and judges for its 4th edition. With a more robust partner and judge network in place, the ABH program will be able to better fulfil its mission of spotlighting and supporting entrepreneurs from all industries across the continent.  

Entrepreneurs and small business owners will have until June 6 to apply for this year’s edition. ABH is one of the Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic programs. The official slogan for 2022, “It’s African Time”, is a bold call to action to all talented African entrepreneurs who are challenging stereotypes associated with “African time” – creating local impact and building a better, more inclusive future through their businesses.

ABH continues to deepen its partnership with anchor partners – The Room (www.TheRoom.com) (an initiative of the African Leadership International), SA Innovation Summit (SAIS) (https://InnovationSummit.co.za), RiseUp (www.RiseUpsummit.com), VC4A (https://VC4A.com/) and Ashesi (www.Ashesi.edu.gh). Alongside its anchor partners, ABH will provide applicants with a range of training and talent development programs.

Africa's Business Heroes - Application Deadline 6th June - Hurry Up

ABH has also increased its pool of channel partners to influential stakeholders in Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. These partners will bolster the program’s efforts in finding Heroes across Africa as well as providing participants with additional resources and support. The channel partner pool now includes African Management Institute (AMI) (https://AfricaBusinessHeroes.org), African Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) (www.AWIEForum.org), AfriLabs (https://Afrilabs.com/), Briter Bridges (https://BriterBridges.com), Disrupt Africa (https://Disrupt-Africa.com), ImpactHub Dakar (https://Dakar.ImpactHub.net), MEST Africa (https://Meltwater.org), Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Enterprise (MCISE) (https://www.MCISE.org/) and Seedstars International (https://www.Seedstars.com).

  • “AfriLabs is committed to supporting programmes and interventions targeted at enabling entrepreneurs, creating a conducive environment for ventures to thrive while stimulating economic growth and social development in Africa. Through this partnership with ABH, we will leverage our Pan African community to scout business heroes from across the continent to stand a chance to be one of the finalists.” – Anna Ekeledo, Executive Director of AfriLabs
  • “Disrupt Africa is happy to partner with Africa’s Business Heroes and play a part in helping early-stage tech startups on the continent access vital funding and support. We will utilise our network and reach to ensure this valuable opportunity gets in front of as many founders as possible.” – Tom Jackson, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.
  • “In partnering with Africa’s Business Heroes, the Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (MCISE) aspires to convey one of the best international and African opportunities to its community and beyond. This endeavor draws on the MCISE’s previous efforts since 2012 to foster social entrepreneurship in Morocco and provide an opportunity for Moroccan entrepreneurs to broaden their projects to a continental scale.” – Nafaa Hanane, Communication and Marketing Manager of MCISE.
  • “At Seedstars, our mission has always been to create a positive impact in emerging markets, so this partnership with ABH is something our team is excited about. The African startup ecosystem is beaming with opportunities and we’re thrilled to be one of the organizations helping further enable its growth.” – Lina Ng’inja, Head of Partnerships in Africa for Seedstars.
  • “The African Management Institute (AMI) is one of the leaders in business learning across Africa. We believe that skilled people build thriving businesses, thriving businesses create quality jobs, and quality jobs drive prosperity and dignity. That is why are very excited about our new partnership with Africa’s Business Heroes, an initiative of the Jack Ma Foundation. Behind each thriving business is a hero and team of people growing Africa’s economy and prosperity, one success at a time,” said – Patricia Maina, Partnerships & Gender Lead at AMI. “AMI and ABH’s missions are uniquely aligned, and together, we are committed to enabling ambitious African entrepreneurs across the continent to thrive, turning Africa’s business heroes into Africa’s business superheroes.”

Ventureburn, Ventures Africa and AfterSchool Africa will also support ABH’s efforts in amplifying the ongoing call for applications. In addition, ABH is expanding its community of Judges who will help narrow down applications received to the Top 50, Top 20 and Top 10.

ABH Judges currently include senior professionals from companies such as Facebook, Mastercard, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, VC firms as well as established entrepreneurs such as Dr. Anino Emuwa of Avandis Counslting and Rafeh Saleh of Cubit Ventures. Seasoned entrepreneurs, VCs, academics and business professionals from all sectors are invited to join the ABH community of judges here (https://AfricaBusinessHeroes.org).

Current judges reflected on their experience with ABH and are encouraging others to join ABH as fellow judges.

  • “Being an ABH judge was an exciting, inspiring, and humbling experience for me. I learned a lot and it was a great opportunity to share my knowledge and expertise with the applicants and my fellow judges. Most of all, it was an honour to watch and support such committed change-makers across the continent, they are all true heroes,” says Adaora Ikenze, Head of Public Policy, West Africa at Facebook.
  • “Exceptional young entrepreneurs and fresh ideas! Judging and mentoring through ABH is a great way to give back, while also learning about new trends and business models emerging throughout the continent,” says Matthew Grollnek, Consultant – Venture Fund Lead, Mastercard Foundation.

ABH is currently calling for all entrepreneurs, start-ups and business owners across the continent and every sector, age group, and gender to submit their application – in either French or English – for a chance to become one of the Top 10 finalists. Applicants for this year’s ABH competition (https://AfricaBusinessHeroes.org) have less than three weeks to throw their hats in the ring for their chance to win a share of the US$1.5 million grant. To date, the competition has already attracted applications from all 54 African countries for the third consecutive year.

In addition to a cash grant, applicants will also gain access to mentoring, networking, and publicity opportunities for their ventures. All applicants also have access to training and scaling opportunities across a vast range of business disciplines in the form of webinars, presentations, and events.  They can also take advantage of the competition’s ABH Community Lead program, which gives them access to Heroes from the competition across the years.

To apply to the 2022 Africa’s Business Heroes competition, enter your application on ABH’s official site (https://bit.ly/3Ngq1rT). You can also follow Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/36KuX7A), Twitter (https://bit.ly/3wBUV7S), Facebook (https://bit.ly/37NRKQb) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/358i5Ye).

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

 

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Business

Master Power Technologies Unveils R50m State-of-the-Art Customer Experience Centre at New Midrand Premises

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21 minutes ago

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July 20, 2026

By

Master Power Technologies

This milestone marks a significant step in the company’s continued expansion and commitment to advancing Africa’s data centre infrastructure

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, July 20, 2026/APO Group/ –Master Power Technologies (MPT) (https://kva.co.za/), a leading pan-African provider of turnkey data centre and critical power solutions, has unveiled its hi-tech Customer Experience Centre, also home to its new regional headquarters in Midrand.

Master Power Technologies Unveils R50m State-of-the-Art Customer Experience Centre at New Midrand Premises

This milestone marks a significant step in the company’s continued expansion and commitment to advancing Africa’s data centre infrastructure.

Founded in 1999 by electrical engineer Menno Parsons, MPT has grown from its origins as a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) provider into a diversified engineering firm that delivers end-to-end solutions for data centres across Africa and the Middle East. Today, MPT designs, manufactures, and assembles a wide range of products under its flagship brands, SURE and AIVA, tailored to withstand Africa’s demanding operational environments.

The new Midrand facility spans 6 000m2 and will serve as MPT’s African headquarters, housing approximately 200 employees. Strategically located between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the site is positioned close to major data centre hubs, ensuring accessibility for clients and partners.

Hands-on environment

At the heart of the launch is the Customer Experience Centre, a R50 million investment designed to showcase MPT’s engineering capabilities and provide a hands-on environment for customers, partners, and trainees. The centre features advanced test facilities, including a 2 MVA UPS test platform and a 400kW cooling systems test centre, which is the most comprehensive of its kind on the continent.

These facilities enable performance testing to European certification standards, offering clients confidence in the reliability and efficiency of MPT’s solutions, with the company having become the first African business to be officially certified as an Endorser of the European Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres in 2025.

The Experience Centre represents a new chapter for Master Power Technologies

“The Experience Centre represents a new chapter for Master Power Technologies. It’s about creating a space where customers can engage with our technology, see it in action, and understand the depth of our capabilities,” says MD and Founder of MPT Menno Parsons.

“This centre will be the most impressive UPS and cooling training facility in Africa, allowing our clients to touch, feel, and work with real systems in a way that has never been possible before.”

Commitment to local

The Experience Centre also highlights MPT’s commitment to local engineering and manufacturing. MPT assembles and engineers complete modular data centre and energy centre solutions within Africa. This approach reduces logistical risks, supports local industry, and ensures solutions are tailored to regional requirements.

Beyond technical demonstrations, the centre will serve as a hub for training and collaboration, equipping engineers and clients with practical knowledge to optimise data centre performance.

It also integrates MPT’s proprietary Advanced Infrastructure Visual Analytics (AIVA) monitoring platform, which manages and records metrics across more than 200 data centres in Africa, offering advanced analytics and operational insights.

“Our business has always been about more than just selling equipment. We engineer solutions for Africa, by Africa. This Experience Centre is a testament to that philosophy, which strengthens our ability to train, innovate and deliver world-class infrastructure while remaining rooted in local expertise,” says Parsons.

The launch of the Midrand offices and Experience Centre underscores MPT’s role as a trusted partner in Africa’s rapidly growing data centre sector. With demand for resilient, efficient, and scalable infrastructure on the rise, MPT’s investment positions the company to meet the evolving needs of clients across the continent and beyond.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Master Power Technologies.

 

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Embracing an Intelligent Future: UnionPay Showcases AI Innovation at WAIC 2026

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23 minutes ago

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July 20, 2026

By

WAIC

Release of Phased Achievements of the National Pilot Base for AI Application (Financial Sector) Held Alongside the Conference

SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 20 July 2026 – On 17 July, the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) officially opened in Shanghai. UnionPay unveiled three proprietary AI technologies developed for the financial sector at the Shanghai exhibition area: financial transaction time-series foundation model, the Agentic Payment Open Protocol (APOP) framework, and a privacy-preserving large language model inference solution. As the AI era unfolds, the showcase highlights UnionPay’s continued commitment to accelerating the adoption of digital and intelligent technologies.

On 18 July, UnionPay hosted the Release of Phased Achievements of the National Pilot Base for AI Application (Financial Sector) at the UnionPay Center alongside WAIC 2026. The event brought together more than 100 representatives from commercial banks, Chinese and international partners, leading technology companies, academia, and research institutions. During the event, UnionPay released its “1+6+N” AI achievements framework, announced a series of industry partnerships, and launched a joint initiative calling for greater collaboration on the development and governance of the financial industry. These achievements demonstrate the progress of the National AI Application Pilot Base in building an open innovation platform that accelerates AI adoption across the industry.

Dong Junfeng, Chairman of China UnionPay and UnionPay International, attended the event and delivered a keynote speech. He noted that AI is rapidly reshaping the financial industry. Since the National AI Application Pilot Base was launched in 2025, it has delivered a number of meaningful outcomes through close collaboration across the industry. Mr. Dong elaborated on the vision for the development of the base from through three dimensions: sharing, collaborative governance, and mutual benefits. First, by pooling computing resources, data and models on a centralized public platform, the base helps address industry challenges such as the high cost of computing resources and data silos. This lowers barriers to AI adoption across the financial sector. Second, the base has strengthened AI security by building robust safeguards for large language models and applying AI to enhance transaction risk management and cybersecurity. Such efforts are made to support a safer and more resilient financial ecosystem. Third, the base is accelerating the AI adoption across real-world use cases. It has incubated a range of commercial AI solutions spanning agentic payments, credit risk management, consumption promotion and merchant digital transformation, turning technological innovation into tangible business value. Looking ahead, the future of AI + Finance holds enormous potential. UnionPay looks forward to working with partners across industries to build an open, shared, and well-governed financial AI ecosystem that supports the development of new productive forces through technological innovation.

A highlight of the event was the official launch of UnionPay’s “1+6+N” AI achievements framework.

The “1” represents a unified portal—the National AI Application Pilot Base. Built on a “One Portal, Six Centers” structure, it integrates six specialized centers covering models, datasets, applications, talent development, supply-demand matching, and financial services. Together, the platform currently hosts 11 models, 14 datasets, 59 demonstration applications, and 61 service offerings, bringing together 145 core resources in total.

The “6” refers to six independent and controllable capabilities, including computing resources scheduling through a trusted intelligent computing sharing platform, high-quality financial datasets, finance-specific foundation models, AI-powered financial security services, financial AI standards, and a pilot testing sandbox that supports model training and evaluation. Together, these six capabilities form the base’s shared technology foundation, providing ecosystem partners with the core technical infrastructure.

The “N” represents a portfolio of benchmark use cases, standardized AI solutions, and demonstration applications built on this technology foundation. These applications span five key areas—intelligent payments, inclusive finance, consumption growth, risk management and compliance, and operational excellence—building a multi-tier product portfolio serving consumers, merchants, local governments and financial institutions. This accelerates the application of AI capabilities across diverse use cases.

Together, the “1+6+N” framework of the base connects computing power, data, models, and use cases and forms an end-to-end value chain. By addressing common industry challenges—including limited computing resources, data silos and the high cost of AI deployment—it delivers standardized and widely accessible AI capabilities, providing the financial industry with reusable, highly secure and one-stop AI solutions for intelligent transformation. This also reflects UnionPay’s commitment not only to driving its own business growth, but also to enabling the industry through foundational capabilities and reinforcing financial infrastructure for the AI era.

These achievements have already been made available to industry partners and are beginning to create value. For banks, acquirers and other financial institutions, UnionPay’s shared infrastructure enables rapid access to mature financial AI capabilities without the need to build systems from scratch, significantly reducing both technical barriers and implementation costs. For merchants, UnionPay offers AI-powered marketing, digital analytics and intelligent risk management tools to support smarter operations, improve customer engagement and enhance operational efficiency, enabling even small and medium-sized businesses to benefit from AI innovation. For technology companies and other ecosystem partners, the base enables partners to rapidly adapt AI products for financial applications and complete compliance validation, accelerating the commercialization of technological innovations.

The event also featured six rounds of partnership signing ceremonies, covering areas including AI-themed card, cross-border agentic payment ecosystem development, AI-powered operational empowerment for merchants, joint commercialization of pilot base innovations, and broader ecosystem collaboration across the financial industry chain.

Following the signing ceremonies, UnionPay released the Initiative on the Collaborative Development and Governance of AI Applications in Financial Services, with representatives from participating organizations joining the stage to witness its launch. Building on the “1+6+N” framework, the initiative calls on industry stakeholders to collaborate in four areas: First, advancing trusted AI systems that serve the real economy by establishing governance mechanisms for traceable and explainable algorithms while safeguarding data privacy and security; Second, strengthening collaboration among industry, academia, research institutions and users, leveraging the base to jointly advance core technologies and develop independent and secure financial AI infrastructure; Third, promoting openness and inclusiveness by sharing mature AI models, testing services and implementation solutions to reduce the cost of intelligent transformation, particularly for SMEs; Fourth, improving lifecycle governance through tiered risk management, enhanced compliance standards and coordinated risk prevention. The initiative calls on all industry stakeholders to work together by jointly strengthening the foundation, unlocking greater value through shared capabilities, and reinforcing collaborative governance, with the goal of advancing the sound development of AI in the financial sector and driving digital finance through technological innovation.

 

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Energy

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Standard Bank and Africa50 Lead Finance Lineup at African Mining Week 2026

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3 days ago

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July 17, 2026

By

Standard Bank

Leading development finance institutions, commercial banks and private investment firms will explore financing strategies that can unlock the continent’s estimated $29.5 trillion in mine-site mineral wealth at AMW 2026

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 17, 2026/APO Group/ –As Africa moves to unlock an estimated $29.5 trillion in mine-site mineral value, development finance institutions, commercial banks and private investment firms are expanding financial support to help transform the continent into a globally competitive mining hub.

The growing role of financiers in unlocking Africa’s mining value chain will take center stage at African Mining Week (AMW) 2026, taking place October 14–16 in Cape Town. The event will bring together leading financial institutions – including Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), Standard Bank, Absa Bank, Trade and Development Bank (TDB), Africa50, Apeiron Investment Group and World Mining Investment – to showcase financing models supporting mining development across the continent.

AMW comes as momentum behind mining finance continues to accelerate. In July 2026, AFC, DFC and the Development Bank of Southern Africa reached financial close on the $753 million Lobito Corridor Railway Project, one of Africa’s most significant infrastructure investments supporting the mining sector. The project will rehabilitate 1,300 km of railway linking Angola’s Port of Lobito with the DRC and Zambia, creating a faster and more cost-effective export corridor for copper, cobalt and other strategic minerals.

At AMW 2026, Vibhuti Jain, Managing Director & Regional Head for Africa at DFC, is expected to discuss the institution’s growing investment portfolio and the U.S. strategy to strengthen critical mineral supply chains through Africa.

The event also comes as South Africa strengthens exploration finance through the IDC-managed Junior Exploration Fund. In June 2026, the IDC reached a new financing milestone, increasing the number of junior mining companies supported through the fund to 13. Earlier in the year, the IDC expanded the fund’s capital allocation to R600 million, advancing the country’s efforts to revive exploration, stimulate greenfield development and strengthen the participation of locally owned mining companies. Thabiso Sekano, IDC’s Head of Mining and Metals, is expected to discuss the fund’s progress alongside broader initiatives supporting the mining industry through investments in industrial infrastructure.

Infrastructure finance will also be a key focus at AMW 2026, with Simbarashe Chikarango, Head of Project and Infrastructure Finance at TDB, and Folaseto Akin-Olugbade of Africa50 expected to highlight investments aimed at addressing the energy, transport and logistics constraints that continue to limit mining productivity.

 

TDB recently partnered with several financial institutions to launch a $176 million energy investment platform that will accelerate private-sector electrification across sub-Saharan Africa. The bank is also providing a $150 million syndicated facility to Mota-Engil Africa to finance transport, mining and infrastructure projects across multiple African markets. Meanwhile, Africa50 is supporting Kenya’s $311 million electricity transmission public-private partnership, strengthening power infrastructure essential for mining and industrial development.

Commercial banks are likewise expanding their mining portfolios. Standard Bank and Absa Bank recently participated in a $130 million financing package for South African mining company Tharisa, supporting the company’s long-term growth strategy. Standard Bank also arranged a $150 million financing facility for Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation in Namibia to support mine expansion, reinforcing its commitment to financing strategic mining projects across Southern Africa.

Deerosh Maharaj, Executive Head for Energy, Infrastructure and Mining at Standard Bank, and Shirley Webber, Managing Principal and Coverage Head for Resources and Energy at Absa Bank, are expected to discuss opportunities to increase capital flows into African mining projects.

Private investment firms are also stepping up efforts to channel international capital into Africa’s mining sector. Apeiron Investment Group and World Mining Investment are expanding initiatives to connect investors with the continent’s growing pipeline of mining opportunities, as Africa seeks to secure a significant share of the estimated $500 billion in global investment required by 2040 to meet soaring demand for critical minerals, including copper, lithium, graphite, nickel and rare earth elements.

Sebastian Wagner, Head of Natural Resources at Apeiron Investment Group, and Didier Rault, CEO of World Mining Investment, are expected to showcase financing strategies designed to connect global investors with Africa’s next generation of mining projects.

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

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