Hekima Inc., a software development company started by JA students from Maranatha Christian High School in Zimbabwe, has emerged as the winner of the 2022 JA Africa Company of the Year Competition.
The Green Apex, a startup company from Nigeria emerged as the runner-up in the same competition.
Hekima Inc. emerged winner for creating Study Buddie, an app designed to help students develop better study habits in order to make education accessible to all.
Speaking at the award ceremony held in Lagos recently, Simi Nwogugu, chief executive officer of JA Africa, said the students were given the challenge to develop businesses with solutions to the world’s greatest threats and they rose to the challenge in a spectacular way.
“We have really been blown away by the level of innovation this year. I am so proud of all the teams competing this week and wish Hekima Inc. the very best in winning the global competition. We are deeply grateful to the judges who had the difficult job of selecting winners and to all our sponsors who made it possible for each team to go home with at least one prize,” she said.
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Uche Pedro, the founder, and CEO of Bella Naija said during the keynote address that rapid innovations over the last decade have been leveraged to build successful companies.
“As we look at what my generation has done, I can say with utmost confidence, looking at the Company of the Year Competition finalists, that we have change makers that are going to change the world,” Pedro said.
On his part, Charles Olumuyiwa Moyela, JA Africa’s Board Chair, said the dream of the organisation is to have JA in all 54 countries in Africa.
“We need to do more. My hope is that by this time next year, JA Africa will expand to five to six more countries and the next five to 10 years, expand to more than half of the continent,” he said.
By emerging winner, Hekima Inc. took home a trophy, cash prizes of $2,000, several other awards, and a ticket to compete globally against Company of the Year Competition winners from five other continents at JA Worldwide’s Ralph De la Vega Global Entrepreneurship competition for $15,000, educational opportunities, and more.
The second and third-place winners, Green Apex from Nigeria, made reusable and biodegradable sanitary pads, while Time Out Company from Eswatini, produced a power monitor called Smart Switch, and it worked hand in hand with a mobile app to help conserve electricity consumption in households respectively.
In addition to these finalist awards, deserving teams received awards from various sponsors including FedEx, Citi Foundation, PMIEF Bloomberg, Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines, and FirstBank Nigeria, Tomorrow Foundation, Nascon Allied Industries, GB Foods and Rise.
The JA Africa Company of the Year competition is JA Africa’s annual celebration of the achievements of young entrepreneurs in the region.
Students who participated in the competition received entrepreneurship training while in school through the JA Company Programme which enables young people to understand the role of business in the global economy. It also allows them to operate an actual business enterprise.
To mark the 12th edition of the Company of the Year Competition, Africa’s largest high school entrepreneurship competition, brought together nine winning teams from Eswatini, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe for an intense 3-day business pitch competition.
