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6 – Obinwanne Okeke, 28, Nigeria
Founder: Invictus Group
Okeke could not fail his mother.[3] A promise meant hard work and dreaming big. He was raised in Ukpor village, 790 kilometers from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, as the 17th child of a polygamous father.
He went to boarding school aged 10,[8] lost his father at 16 and moved from one relative to another. He named his company Invictus after one of Nelson Mandela’s favorite a poems, by William Ernest Henley, about the undefeated and unconquerable soul of a hard worker, from an impoverished background, [4]who will not give up.
Invictus is in construction, agriculture, oil and gas, telecoms and real estate. He has 28 permanent and 100 part-time employees across nine companies.[2]
7 – David Asiamah, 28, Ghana
Founder: Agro Mindset
After completing a postgraduate degree in agriculture,[12] Asiamah turned down a number of job offers to farm in Ghana – founding Agro Mindset Group instead. [9]Asiamah owns 15 acres of land, raising chicken, and employs 12 people. “Our future outlook is to adopt more innovative, cutting-edge technologies to produce animal feed, manage waste, [10]and construct solar power plants,” he says.
Asiamah is the winner of an African Achiever Award for agricultural excellence,[2] the Future Awards Africa for agriculture and Ghana UK Based Awards for corporate sustainability after his nomination at the House of Commons.
8 – Vital Sounouvou, 25, Benin
Founder: Exportunity
His is the tale of a graduate who grew up in poverty,[1] cheated death and ended up crippled. These tough times steeled him to make his fortune. Sounouvou says, at the age of six, he had malaria and doctors gave him an injection to cure it,[7] but it also attacked his bones and killed the nerves. He was almost paralyzed on his left leg and has had to use a walking stick since then.
Sounouvou founded Exportunity, a site that promotes export opportunities for Africans by connecting producers with traders. It allows a farmer in Benin to sell his produce to a buyer in South Africa – or the United States – through a cell phone. Through the trade events, [2]Sounouvou claims Exportunity has engaged with over 750 clients, [4]and built a database of 85,000 companies trading with Africa. He also employs 17 people.
9 – Prince Boadu, 28, Ghana
Co-Founder: MapTech Logistics
Boadu paved his way to success through hard work, [9]on the streets of Ghana. He sold African-print clothes and founded a multimedia company to pay for university. After his master’s in logistics and supply chain management, [1]he worked for a company which provided affordable toilets for the urban poor. “The major problem we faced at the time was inaccurate customer location data.”
Faced with this challenge, with his co-founder,[8] a geomatic engineer, they deployed geographic information systems (GIS) and location intelligence solutions to solve the problem. MapTech Logistics, a technology company, [2]focusing on developing GIS-based applications to solve business problems, such as logistics and supply chain management, was born.
The company also provides mapping services for geospatial analysis.[6] Maptech has been named in this year’s 100 globally competitive start-ups in Ghana by The Startup Network and Boadu is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Boadu employs six people.
10 – Uneku Atawodi,28, Nigeria
Founder: Bamboo Green Concepts
Atawodi has lived the good life. She spent most of her life playing professional polo for brands in over 22 cities around the world.[12] When she was 21,[1] she launched Bamboo Green Concepts, an investment outfit with a diversified portfolio, with the help of her father.
Bamboo Green Concepts owns Bamboo House, [8]a boutique hotel and lounge in the heart of Abuja. Bamboo evolved into what Atawodi loves most; a place where people can play polo. She partnered with SuperSport to bring polo to television across Africa. She constructed the bamboo polo arena on the beach in Lagos.
Her experience raising funds to launch the arena, and the difficulty for SMEs to access finance,[9] led her to launch Africa’s first equity crowdfunding platform, Malaik.[2] Malaik closed its first $300,000 deal within two months of launching, and is currently raising its own seven-figure round to help connect more global investors with high impact investment opportunities in West Africa, even in Africa as a whole.
11 – Momarr Mass Taal, 28, Gambia
Founder: Tropingo Foods
Taal says he got into business by accident. He wanted to be a diplomat like his dad. At the age of 17, [3]he printed t-shirts for fun, then for friends and gradually grew into a clothing brand, [10]Malyka Clothing. Within a few years he was manufacturing in Bangladesh and selling in five countries.
“With the intention to build a business that would address the lack of value addition for our local produce, I found that most local producers, particularly farmers, [2]had market access problems and I set about building a business which used value addition to create that market.” Tropingo Foods, a groundnut and mango processing and export company, was born.
He exports to Asia and Europe and is building a food dehydration processing facility in Gambia.[9] Taal has 140 employees, 120 of which are women. He turned over $1.6 million in 2015.
12 – John Armah, 24, Ghana
Founder: Orios Group
Armah grew up squeezed in a single room with four other people in Kaneshie, Accra. At 18, he had a dream to change lives.[1]
While in school, he worked as a library assistant at the Ghana International School, [5]before joining Hotel Wangara as its assistant human resource and marketing manager at the age of 16. He left Hotel Wangara for university, where he established a job recruitment firm.
It took soul searching and research, before the Ghana Center for Entrepreneurship, Employment and Innovation (GCEEI), now Orios Group, was born.“There are 11 million new entrants into the job market in west Africa and Africa each year and it is up to us to create jobs for them and also train some of them to create jobs for others.” Armah is empowering Ghanaian entrepreneurs to build successful businesses.
“We have trained over 10,000 youth in Ghana, formalized over 50 businesses in Ghana.[11] With no formal title, I am easily your business strategist,[2] young investor and consultant.” Armah is ranked as one of the most influential young Ghanaians and in West Africa, he has earned respect from fellow entrepreneurs.
13 – Nana Opoku Agyeman-Prempeh, 28, Ghana
Co-Founder: Asoriba
A church app? You better believe it.[10] Agyeman-Prempeh is the founder of Asoriba, a web-based church management application for church worshipers and leaders. Members can also give tithes, offerings and pledges to the church online.
“I grew up in the church and during these years I could not help but notice the administrative difficulties my father faced while managing the church.[1] It is not an easy task to communicate with church leadership and members,[6] while simultaneously putting in place a solid administrative and financial system,” he says.
He has signed 395 churches in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and the US and registered 30,000 church members to his platform.[2] Churches pay from as little $9 per month for the service, this makes him an amazing and youngest entrepreneurs in West Africa.
Young people in West Africa are good at innovation![9]
Source: Forbes
Check also;
- Top 9 Youngest And Promising Entrepreneurs In East Africa
- Top 7 Youngest And Promising Entrepreneurs In Southern Africa
- The Youngest Billionaire In Africa, Mohammed Dewji To Create 100,000 Jobs In Tanzania
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