A young leaders' program, MyAfricanStartUp, honored its 2015 winners during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) held in Abidjan from 25 to 29 May 2015.
After 48 hours of presentations to the judges, Ange Emmanuelle Effi from Côte d'Ivoire won the first prize, comprising a trip by Air France, and a grant from the Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) school in Paris and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Her project involved a text message saving system for low income people.
Francis Yapobi, who presented an Airship project, emerged second. His project was about online sales in airport shops including online buying of airline tickets. Marina Lougbegnon's Bloodbook project won third prize. It was a text message service providing information on appointments for healthcare services and blood donations to save lives.
A number of ideas were presented, including ICT initiatives on health, and tourist information.
Thierry Tanoh, Deputy Secretary-General to the presidency of Côte d'Ivoire, delivered a message of encouragement for the young project managers. "The MyAfricanStartUp project is a key factor in the development of a country," he said.
Robert Masumbuko, Acting Manager of AfDB's Financial Sector Development unit was pleased at the Bank's support for an initiative involving young entrepreneurs. He announced an upcoming business-bank competition seeking to fund 200 projects. It will be launched by the Bank.
Christian Kamayou, of MyAfricanStartUp recalled how the idea was born after attending a conference in Geneva in Switzerland. He wanted to provide a platform for giving media visibility to innovations by young people.
