The first edition of the MBA in Impact Entrepreneurship ended on Saturday 24th September 2016 at CERAP (Centre de Recherche et d’Action pour la Paix) Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire with the Business Plan Competition, the last and the most important of the 3 competitions organized per each edition of the MBA.
The 24 participants had the chance to pitch their businesses to investors and business partners and received high quality feedback on their financial soundness.
After a thrilling pitching session, with entrepreneurs divided in 4 different groups, the jury announced the winners:
1. Kouadio Koffi G. Romaric (Propose SARL, house pavements)
2. Obrou Hermann Omer (Aquaculture valley)
3. Kouadio Nenin A. Viviane (IPC, teenager education)
4. Meite Alassane (SAVATI Group, agribusiness farm)
Best Social Impact: Leyogne Lydie (AC’2S Consulting)
Only two weeks later (Saturday 8th October 2016), the second edition of the MBA was launched with the Business Idea Competition.
“We are happy to officially launch the second edition of the MBA. I am sure that batch of students of this new cohort will greatly benefit from this unique programme in Côte d’Ivoire ” said Eugène GOUSSIKINDEY, General Manager of CERAP.
Here the names of the entrepreneurs appointed as winners by the jury:
- Raphiath Soulé Sombo with “Exploitation of the banana tree trunk”, a business specialised in production of cardboard, paper and recycled banana tree waste packaging. She won the Best Start-up Award at the 2015 Africa SME Champions Awards in Nairobi and was also commended at the Africa Start Up Competition organised by Africa 2.0 Foundation in Maputo the same year.
- Clyde Vacher, Mauritian entrepreneur living in Abidjan, with his “Côte d’Ivoire, just a click away!” project, aimed at boosting Ivorian tourism through the optimised use of digital tourism tools.
- Carolle Ama Nia-Mike, Sales Manager with a project called “IPS Industrial Parts Supply”.
The 2016-2017 courses for the MBA kicked off on Monday 17th October 2016 with a full-week boot camp with Ivorian, Italian and African academics and the contribution of professionals and well known entrepreneurs. Throughout the program the Business Ideas presented at the competition will grow into feasible Business Projects.