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Uzo Obi (Founder & CEO, Arete Wood Limited) 📸AdaobiOniwinde Uzo Obi is founder of Arete Wood Limited (manufacturers of household and institutional furniture, and exclusive Nigeria distributor of Kronospan MFC, MDF and HPL panels). What is, perhaps, more intriguing (and inspiring) is the backstory that led to Uzo’s business, which her cousin Adaobi Oniwinde gives an insight into: She attended what is among the [top] Ivy League of girls’ private secondary schools in the UK, after which she studied Accounting at the London School of Economics.Then started her career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen and moved to Hong Kong…

KIGALI, Rwanda, May 6, 2024/ — Between April 20-27, the Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize Competition (a philanthropic initiative sponsored by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Philanthropy) hosted 40 participants—consisting of top 10 Heroes, other finalists and partners from across Africa—in Hangzhou, China. Participants engaged in an immersive experience at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou and have returned to their home countries enriched with valuable insights to further enhance their entrepreneurial endeavors on the continent.During their visit, the ABH Heroes (spanning cohorts from 2019 to 2023) participated in a wide range of activities. These included deep dives that explored various…

📸 MajestikFarms Bintu Mohammed Nakudu is Managing Director at Majestik Farms, and she is developing one of the Nigeria’s most modern, eco-friendly farms. Majestik’s agro-allied services – which cover farm produce, animal rearing, and animal mill feed production – also includes fishing, mechanised poultry, livestock and crop farming. Bintu Mohammed Nakudu (CEO, Majestik Farms) This January, while unveiling the future of agriculture in Abuja, Majestik Farms shares its progress (video below) in developing the largest Greenhouse in northern Nigeria, paving the way for sustainable farming. Behind every successful operation at Majestik Farms lies diligent oversight and teamwork. Our Managing Director,…

Osayi Alile (CEO, Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation) 📸OsayiAlile Even within a difficult operating environment, opportunities are rife for entrepreneurs to start or enhance a business targeted at solving problems, no matter how minute. However, this is also a great time to analyse an important, yet often overlooked aspect of the entrepreneurial journey: the tricky link between the founder’s mental health and their business success. So, is there a connection between entrepreneurship and mental health conditions? A 2021 global sample study (72% Of Entrepreneurs Suffer From Mental Health Issues. Here’s Why—And What To Do About It) reveals an alarming truth -…

Abiola Adediran (Private Wealth & Family Office expert) 📸A. Adediran Increasingly, more businesses fail to pass on the reins to the next generation, either through a lack of planning, or simply because younger family members may be terribly ill-equipped to take on the burden of responsibility. In a lucid piece shared online (Many Boomer Retirees. Few Succession Plans), Private Wealth & Family Office expert, Abiola Adediran, weighs in, outlining the several challenging familial conditions that may exist (often in combination), and sharing thoughts on how so many of these obstacles could be remedied with some forethought and openness. Adediran says:…

Emerging Africa Group launches in Port Harcourt (Rivers State, Nigeri): Founder, Emerging Africa Group, Dr. Toyin Sanni (4th-R) and the team: Adaku Ijara (2nd-R); Collins Olise, Olutoye Sanni, Kuburat Yakubu, Felicia Sonubi, and Mahmoud Kasandubu Leading provider of financial services, Emerging Africa Capital Group recently launched in Nigeria’s South-South region with the unveiling of a brand new office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Says Founder, Dr. Toyin F. Sanni: “Today we opened [the]  Emerging Africa Group, Port Harcourt branch, and brought opportunities for deeper financial inclusion and wealth creation to the people of Rivers State.  Going by its mission to grow…

Moruf Oseni (Managing Director & CEO, Wema Bank) Nigeria’s youth are reminded that entries to the 5th edition of Wema Bank’s flagship youth and startup-focused tech competition – Hackaholics 5.0 – are open. Hackaholics, described as the largest community of problem-solvers, visionaries, creative thinkers and innovators in Africa, is an annual tech and innovation competition created by Wema Bank in 2019 to provide a platform for young Nigerians with tech-driven ideas to bring their game-changing ideas to life, scale their ventures or startups and access a wider market for these tech-enabled solutions. Announcing Wema Bank Hackaholics 5.0 recently, in Lagos. (L-R): Ololade…

(L): Amede Olisa-Achingale, (Founder, Bosaz Global Ventures) 📸 @BplantoNG/ food_champions_initiative Amede Olisa-Achingale doubles as the National Internal Auditor of the African Women Entrepreneurs Programme (AWEP), and Founder of Bosaz Global Ventures – an agro-processing enterprise producing a diverse range of African foods that include plantain flour, potato flour, and orange-fleshed sweet potato flour, catering to the needs of health-conscious people. For those who want to achieve lifestyle goals through a healthy diet, Bosaz Foods processes locally grown produce and packages them for the benefit of gluten intolerant persons of all ages in both local and international markets, under the brand…

(2nd L) Florence I. ‘Cuppy’ Otedola – Founder, Cuppy Foundation Global DJ and music producer, Florence I. ‘Cuppy’ Otedola, is celebrating one year since Cuppy Foundation’s Africa Oxford Scholars Fund announced a gift of £100,000 to an existing African Graduate Support Fund – a brainchild of the Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx), which is designed to meet the needs of the most vulnerable African graduate students at Oxford University, including those with any form of disability and caring responsibilities. 📸 CuppyFoundation The Cuppy Africa Oxford Scholars Fund provides awards of up to £2000 to African graduate students currently studying at the University of Oxford, thereby…

Amb. Maryben Omollo (Founder, Maryben foundation) Five years ago, when Maryben Omollo needed therapy, she couldn’t afford it. She was so broke that even securing a meal was not guaranteed. However, she bumped into a complete stranger on LinkedIn who offered to pay for her therapy. Describing her case as ‘urgent’ and needing someone to save her, she says her new-found psychologist called Kiarie “never saw the short, ugly way I described myself or how I was described by someone close. I remember each time I would say that, he would burst with laughter and ask me to look at…