Dakar is celebrating African entrepreneurship with Africa's Business Heroes. The pan-African competition has chosen Senegal to host its 2025 semi-finals, which will take place on September 10 and 11. This competition, initiated by the Alibaba Philanthropy Foundation, has for the past seven years honored the continent's most promising entrepreneurs.

The press conference held on September 9th provided an opportunity to unveil the main points of this edition and to reiterate the event's ambitions. "Africa's Business Heroes is an initiative of Alibaba Philanthropy and our mission is simple. We want to shine a light on and support extraordinary African entrepreneurs from all continents. We provide money, we provide visibility," said Zahra Baitie-Boateng, ABH's Africa Director. In its seven years of existence, the initiative has attracted more than 150,000 applications. According to her, "We have been in existence for seven years and we have attracted more than 150,000 entrepreneurs to participate in this competition, we have trained thousands of them, we have offered $1.5 million to 60 entrepreneurs." The 2025 edition set a record with 32,000 applications.

For the director, this enthusiasm illustrates the anchoring of entrepreneurship as a lever for transformation. “This shows us that entrepreneurship is booming on the continent, and more and more young people are finding a way to transform their realities in Africa. So we are really excited and happy to see the scale of entrepreneurship, and we are honored to support them,” she said.

Over two days, the 20 semi-finalists will present their projects to a jury for a place in the final in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

The topics covered cover a variety of sectors, from agriculture to health and digital technology.

For Zahra Baitie-Boateng, these initiatives are driving a new dynamic: “We have seen entrepreneurs using digital tools to transform traditional businesses, to solve problems that we have been facing for decades on the continent.”

The winners receive structured support, and the application process is as much about assessment as it is about introspection. Training sessions are organized at each stage, supplemented by online bootcamps. “These are 1-hour, 2-hour, or 3-hour sessions, during which they are trained in marketing, finance, preparation, building your team, etc., and once they join the alumni program, we organize a variety of targeted training sessions, both online and offline, designed with the necessary tools to continue their progress. We organize one-on-one interviews with our heroes, during which we try to understand where their strengths lie,” the competition representative explained.

The finalists also have the opportunity to travel to Hangzhou, China, to discover the Alibaba ecosystem and discuss potential collaborations. Henri Ousmane Gueye, 2024 Africa's Business Heroes (ABH) winner and co-founder of the startup Eyone Medical, was present at this face-to-face with the press. For him, this distinction had an immediate impact on his business: "Yes, clearly this award has had a very big impact on what we do on a daily basis. (...) Winning this competition internationally reassures our authorities that they are betting on champions. Knowing that, in any case, if we give value to our local innovators, it can be recognized internationally. It can help grow our entire ecosystem."

In addition to recognition, he mentions financial support, with an endowment of 300,000 dollars, or more than 167,000,000 FCFA for the first prize.

Institutional and private partners are supporting the competition. Wave Mobile Money has joined the event. Its regional director of public affairs, Awa Gueye, emphasized the importance of the company's partnership with this type of event: "We believe that Wave's mission, which is to make Africa the first cashless continent, (...) is closely aligned with what Africa's Business Heroes is trying to do, which is to truly promote entrepreneurs, equip them with development tools, financial tools, but also to give them the confidence to grow as a business and compete on international channels."

Of the 20 finalists who will compete for the last 10 places, 2 Senegalese are present.

Among its representatives is Siny Samba, co-founder of Lionceau, which specializes in infant nutrition. Her project leverages local resources to improve children's diets. "We truly specialize in infant nutrition. So we process fruits, vegetables, grains, and forgotten plants, so we use cowpeas (beans), for example, solum (tamarind), and baobab, to make baby food, specifically to strengthen their nutritional status."

The entrepreneur hopes to strengthen her production in order to open up to the regional and international markets. "Today we are in Senegal, we have demand in the sub-region, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire and Benin, so it's really about being able to address the regional market on the continent, but also explore the international market," she says. At the end of this stage, ten finalists will be selected to participate in the grand finale which will be held in Kigali.