Jumia and MTN partner to bring the MTN entrepreneurship challenge

As a way to contribute to the development of the African society, Africa’s leading E-commerce company, Jumia, in partnership with MTN solution space, will be launching the ‘MTN entrepreneurship challenge’ across the African continent.

The MTN entrepreneurship challenge is targeted towards African youths, specifically the undergraduate youths, as it is open to over 60 universities across 13 selected African countries. The MTN entrepreneurship challenge is a platform created to foster creativity among the African youths, towards creating innovative business ideas and solutions to issues being faced by the Africa continent,

According to the head of communications at Jumia, Mr. Bankole Cardoso, “This competition will contribute to building a stronger and more sustainable business environment across Africa. Its main goal is to boost and fuel African entrepreneurship by enabling young and smart entrepreneurs to kick off with their own projects. The key for us is to give full and adapted support to young talents, from funding to mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs.”

Competition can only be entered in teams of 2 or 3 entrepreneurs (teams of 2 or 3 must comprise of at least one undergraduate or a recent graduate (the academic year 2014-2015 or 2015 – 2016) from participating universities. Registration for has already begun and will run until 27 March 2016, you can register by logging onto www.gsb.uct.ac.za/MTNECbyJumia .

According to the information on the application website, all applications will be judged by campus captains, who consist of successful entrepreneurs in their respective market – this means you will have to get your business idea ready. Shortlisted teams will then move on to a live pitching phase at their selected universities between 1-8 April 2016, after which the final five projects will be selected to move through to the Semi-Final.

The finalists will be announced on 16 April 2016, and as part of this achievement, the successful teams will get the opportunity to attend the Entrepreneurship festival, hosted at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in South Africa on May 27, 2016. The festival aims to facilitate the collaboration of over a thousand attendees with prominent and innovative speakers and workshop experts from across the world. Finalists will have to present their business to a room of successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, judges, investors and international media, after which the winner of the challenge will be announced.

The winner of the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia will win a cash prize of $25 000 towards their start-up, and will also benefit from a yearlong partnership with Jumia, where they will have the opportunity to work from any of JUMIA’s offices across Africa. This will enable the winner to learn from, and be mentored by experienced and successful entrepreneurs in the JUMIA network. The winner will also have access to a Facebook Start Program to the value of US $15 000, which includes tools and services needed to build mobile applications. In addition, they will have the opportunity to work from the MTN Solution Space at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. The two runners-up will each receive US $5 000 towards their projects.

MTN solution space is a company formed by a partnership between MTN and the University Of Cape Town Graduate School Of Business. The MTN Solution Space started in 2014 as an African innovation hub.

For more information about the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia, visit the MTN Solution Space at www.gsb.uct.ac.za and Jumia at www.Jumia.com or visit their social media pages on Facebook: facebook.com/uctgsbsolutions. More information will also be available on Twitter at @uctgsbsolutions and @Africa_IG, where regular updates, articles and interviews will be shared.

This is a clarion call to all undergraduates, and new graduates, this could be the chance you have been looking for to set your ideas in motion.