The 5th Anzisha Prize application phase is now open (http://www.anzishaprize.org), and the search is on to find Africa’s youngest, most exciting social and business entrepreneurs under 22 years of age. Africa is the world’s youngest continent, with over 600m people under the age of 25. The Anzisha Prize is a growing social impact program entirely focused on accelerating the entry of millions of young Africans into viable and exciting entrepreneurship opportunities within high growth economic sectors.

The impact and success of the program to date has encouraged co-hosts
African Leadership Academy and The MasterCard Foundation to extend their
collaboration for a further 5 years. The Anzish Prize will be a feature of
the entrepreneur landscape in Africa until 2020, and aggresively expand its
activities to not only encourage young entrepreneurs, but strengthen and
celebrate the ecosystem of organisations that develop young African
entrepreneurial talent in this age group.

They call it the #AnzishaEffect
(https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AnzishaEffect
<https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AnzishaEffect&src=typd> &src=typd), and it
is the power of stories about the very youngest entrepreneurs among us to
encourage others to follow in their footsteps. Africa needs strong,
innovative entrepreneurial young leaders to create jobs, solve problems and
drive our economies. Our continent’s future will be determined by
entrepreneurial leaders across all sectors.

“We have already seen the #AnzishaEffect at work through the inspirational
stories and leadership of Anzisha Fellows like Laetitia Mukungu, Andrew
Mupuya and Thato Kgatlhanye. They are now globally recognized and celebrated
role models,” says Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard
Foundation. “We’re excited about expanding our support of the Anzisha Prize
so that many more young entrepreneurs in Africa can make a lasting impact in
their communities and countries.”

Each year, 12 finalists win a two-week trip to South Africa for a learning
experience of a lifetime at African Leadership Academy, and share over
$75,000 USD in cash funding. At a Gala Dinner, the grand prize winner is
announced and recieves $25,000 with which to grow their business. From 2015,
Anzisha Fellows will be actively supported through the recently launched
Youth Entrepreneur Support Unit (YES-U), based at African Leadership
Academy, which is a collaboration with leading business incubators on the
continent. Mentorship, consulting services, community gatherings and travel
opportunities will now define the fellow experience as they grow their
business ventures. New programs will be announced soon that focus on and
invest into other areas of the youth entrepreneur value chain.

Applications close on April 15th, 2015, and nominations are encouraged. The
Anzisha Prize is one of the most accessible and inclusive pan-African
opportunities for youth from any background. Application forms and
information are available in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic, and the
Anzisha Prize Tour team will visit key hubs and engage local media in every
region. There are also over 25 country partner organisations who are
available to assist applicants in countries where the tour does not reach.
Both paper and electronic applications are accepted.

“There are few programs with the reach and potential of the Anzisha Prize
that are so focused on this age group,” comments Josh Adler, Director for
the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership at African Leadership Academy, and
Manager of the Anzisha program, “This year, we will see the various parts of
the ecosystem we’ve been investing into since 2010 begin to really work
together for the benefit of Africa’s youngest entrepreneurs, wherever they
may be!”
Source: http://naijainvestgateway.com/2015/02/anzisha-prize-offers-africas-youngest-entrepreneurs-opportunity-win-75-million.html