Pan-African entrepreneurship and innovation non-profit organization; the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) yesterday announced winners of its 6th edition of the AWIEF Awards during its annual conference that was held online from December 2 to 3, 2020.
The AWIEF Awards recognized, honored and celebrated Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners in Africa and across industry sectors, for their economic performance and contribution to Africa’s growth and social development.
Prior the award ceremony, 24 women founders and entrepreneurs, driving economic growth and development for Africa were selected as finalists for the AWIEF Awards from different African countries, across 8 different categories; Young Entrepreneur Award, Tech Entrepreneur Award, Social Entrepreneur Award, Agri Entrepreneur Award, Creative Industry Award, Energy Entrepreneur Award, Empowerment Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award.
From the 24, only 8 women founders and entrepreneurs emerged winners.
Hannah Lavery, Founder Hannah Lavery (South Africa) won the young entrepreneur award, Victoria Mwafulirwa, Managing Director of Homes Industries (Malawi) won the agri entrepreneur award, Marlize Holtzhausen, Founder and CEO of Response24 (South Africa) won the tech entrepreneur award, Ayanfeoluwa Olarinde, Lulu Arts and UnEarthical (Nigeria) won the creative industry award, Porcho Marguerite Sogoba, CEO, MUSODEV (Mali) won the empowerment award, Amma Serwah Boateng, Co-founder, Destra Energy Group (Ghana) won the energy entrepreneur award, Rita Stryker, CEO, Willette Safehouse (Liberia) won the social entrepreneur award, and Daisy Mmabatho Molefhi, Founder and Vice Chancellor, ABM University College (Botswana) has honored with the lifetime achievement award.
AWIEF Awards 2020 also featured the 2020 APO Group African Women in Media Award with Zimbabwean journalist Debra Matabvu emerging as the winner.
The flagship event was attended by the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, UNDP, UNIDO, IFAD, ITC, The World Bank, Nedbank, Afreximbank, AGRA, USAID, Deutsche Post DHL, APO Group, Visa, SAP, The Economist, KPMG, Dalberg, African Development Bank, MEDA, African government representatives, Mohammed VI Polythenic University (Morocco), Thunderbird School of Global Management (USA), to mention a few.
