What do Team Nigeria and Burna Boy have in common?

If you said we are both African Giants, you would be right because all we do is WIN! There was so much joy in the air on the night of Friday, December 6, 2019, as the team from Nigeria represented by our National Company of the Year (NCOY) winners from Taidob College Abeokuta won not 1, not 2 not 3 but 4 awards at this year’s Africa Company of the Year competition which held in Accra, Ghana.

From the 4^th to the 6^th of December 2019 Forty-four secondary school students from 11 countries across Africa converged in Accra, Ghana for the Annual Junior Achievement Africa’s Company of the Year competition. The competition which brought together young entrepreneurs from Botswana, Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland), Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; comprised of three stages, the Stage Pitches followed by Trade Fair interviews and finally the Boardroom interviews.

Team Nigeria did not win the overall grand prize which went to Relo-Pave Investments from Botswana who developed waterless paving bricks with second place going to Edu-Buddies from the Kingdom of Eswatini who developed a platform that gives parents access to their children’s academic results, leveraging on USSD technology. Team Nigeria led by its CEO Ms. Owodunni Evans-Adeluka developed a Gas Leakage Detector and won the Citi Foundation Client Focus Award, Kosmos Energy Entrepreneurial Spirit Award came 3^rd place overall and saw their facilitator Mr. Afeez Bakare win the Facilitator of the Year Award.

Their performance at the competition is proof that we need to get the right support from partners to continue the JA Company Program in existing schools and introduce it in even more schools. Their success also goes to speak to the impact of their innovation – the Gas Leakage Detector and the viability of the innovative solutions designed to save lives.

Last year, Inventive Explorers, from Caro Favored College Ajegunle, emerged the grand winners at the Africa Company of the Year competition in Ghana. Their rechargeable handheld LED traffic lights have solved a real problem in various congested communities and reduced traffic accidents, especially in areas with school children crossing busy streets.

Having our students perform so excellently back to back shows us we are doing something right, and with your support, we will do even more.

We want to, in a special way, thank all our partners who contributed to this year’s competition; former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and former Ogun state commissioner for Education, Modupe Mujota for facilitating the implementation of Company Program in Ogun state, ACT Foundation for sponsoring the Company Program in Ogun State and finally FirstBank of Nigeria Limited for sponsoring the NCOY competition this year. We appreciate your contributions towards bringing this great opportunity to our students and look forward to your continued support.

Let’s raise more African Giants together.