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04 August 2017

7 Young And Successful African Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2017

By David Cox


The stars of African entrepreneurship seem to be shinning brighter by the day. Young talents are emerging to build brands that change the business landscape and the lives of people in an unimaginable way. It is surprising and encouraging when you think of the age of these inventive business personalities. Here is a list of successful African entrepreneurs who are causing ripples despite their age.

Adeniyi Makanjuola is easy to miss in a crowd because of his reserved demeanor. However, this impression is deceptive considering that the Nigerian is making impressive in-loads in energy, oil and gas and financial sector, among others. He is also making forays in aviation, taking the shine from traditional players who were multinationals. His business has expanded to other African countries, Europe and Middle East.

Tanzania is attracting the interest of the world with Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe, a former beauty queen and musician leading the way. It is remarkable that she is a self styled lady in the furniture industry. Her brand is Molacaho which specializes in afro-centric designs that have the unique Dar touch. The materials are also locally sourced, making the attractive to the local and international market.

Akuyuli Ndijeka Crosby is another Nigerian confirming the West African country as an entrepreneurship trailblazer. Her line of products is unique because it involves art images that infuse collage, drawing, print making and photo transfer, among other artistic elements. Drone brought her work to the limelight when it tripled its value to 1.1 million dollars despite a valuation of 300,000 dollars.

It was difficult to get people to trust the online market as one methods of buying goods until Fatoumata Ba took over as the marketing executive for Jumia in Ivory Coast. It was launched in 2013 supported by Africa Internet Group. Because of her success, she took over Nigeria and achieved similar success. At a tender age of 29 years she achieved what most brands thought would require decades to actualize.

Rupert Bryan rose to the millionaire club at the age of 25. As the co-founder of ISP-Web Africa, he is credited with growing it from scratch to a brand turning over more than R130 million each year. He began building websites from as young an age as 14 where he dropped out of school.

Ludwick Marishane is the chief executive at DryBath Investor. He has been termed as a prodigy for inventing the DryBath at the tender age of 17. The Global Champion of Global Students Entrepreneurs Award rated him as the top entrepreneur because of his brilliant ideas. When asked about his take on entrepreneurship, his response was that no one should need encouragement to make it as an entrepreneur.

The elements that define Patrick E. Ngowi as an entrepreneur are industry, intellect and aim for excellence. His brand is Helvetic Group whose seed capital was only 50 dollars. This company was conceptualized at the age of 15 years. Because of his focus on sustainable solutions, he has been recognized by UN and went on to partner with similar minds in US, Europe and China, beyond other African countries. The fast growing brand is now worth more than 8 million dollars.




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