Nigerian Temitope Ogunsemo, Other 9 Successful Africans Inducted To Anzisha Prize Hall of Fame

For starting and was owner/founder of a business at the age of 25, Nigerian Temitope Ogunsemo and other nine young Africans have won the Anzisha Prize and had been inducted into the Anzidha Hall of Fame.

The Anzisha Prize, a partnership with African Leadership Academy and Mastercard Foundation, is celebrating ten African entrepreneurs whose transitions into entrepreneurship started before the age of 25. The ten inspirational business leaders have been inducted into the Anzisha Prize Hall of Fame for 2020.

The Hall of Fame features a diverse group of five female and five male entrepreneurs whose transitions from high school or university into entrepreneurship demonstrates the importance of starting early to shape entrepreneurial careers. The Hall of Fame honorees are entrepreneurs from various industries and represent six African countries, which includes Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Cameroon and Egypt. Their stories of success and triumphs are a source of inspiration and point of reference for young Africans.

The 2020 Hall of Fame Inductees:

Temitope Ogunsemo
From support to monetary investment, Temitope’s entrepreneurial ideas were championed by family first, making his transition from University into entrepreneurship a familial effort.

Jessy Bityeki
Jessy Bityeki followed the traditional path of going to University and finding a job in a corporate company. But at the age of 24, she decided that starting her business was more interesting.

Mutoba Ngoma
At the age of 21, after graduating from University, Mutoba Ngoma took a leap of faith by becoming an entrepreneur. Inspired by a documentary, he was able to delve into the energy sector and build Tapera industries.

Njeri Rionge
Njeri Rionge’s primary school days were spent selling vegetables in one of Nairobi’s busiest markets. What entrepreneurial skills did she master to make her the serial entrepreneur that she is today?

Wandile Zondo
After graduating from high school, Wandile Zondo ventured into the world of entrepreneurship. With a vision to revolutionalise township streetwear, he built Thesis Lifestyle.

Rapelang Rabana
In her final year of University, Rapelang Rabana had a taste of the entrepreneurial world by starting a business with friends. Interestingly, this wasn’t her first time starting a business, as she had already been questioning the conventional pathway of getting a job.

Musa Kalenga
While most students were focused on getting good grades in University, Musa and his friends were trying to develop ideas that would make them self-proclaimed bosses. How did a boisterous University student catalyse on his love for business at the age of 20?

Baratang Miya
South African entrepreneur Baratang Miya began experimenting with entrepreneurship at the age of 14. Many years later, she’s inspiring young women and girls to see tech in a different light.

Ntuthuko Shezi
As a primary school student, Nthuthuko Shezi was already an entrepreneur and by the age of 21 had launched his first business. Now on business number 14 and counting, this serial entrepreneur shares how starting early can lead to multiple successes.

Dina el Mofty
After graduating from University at the age of 24, Egyptian entrepreneur Dina el Mofty was on a mission to do something impactful. For this reason, she started her own business, Injaz Egypt.

“If your family does not believe in your idea, you can forget trying to get investors on board” A bold statement made by 36-year old Nigerian entrepreneur, Temitope Ogunsemo whose journey as an entrepreneur started when he was just 24 years old.

From an early age, Temitope had a deep interest in the world of entrepreneurship. He always wanted to give back to the people and community that raised him and he believed entrepreneurship was how he would eventually do that.

First, he would attend a top secondary school in Lagos, Nigeria and obtain a master’s degree in Information Technology from the UK. He would then return to his home country to revolutionise the way in which high schools in the country stored student records. This was how Krystal Digital came to be –an ICT company which specializes in the development and deployment of customized and service-oriented software applications, especially in the basic and secondary education sector.

When the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” is uttered, there is a clear understanding of communal efforts that have happened to set a child up for success. At the age of 23, when he first built the idea of Krystal Digital, Temitope’s first point of call for support was not a bank or a silent investor: it was from family and friends, who not only believed in his vision but spurred him on with some capital of their own.

His entire “village” were all on board.“Young entrepreneurs are always looking to banks and investors; I turned to my family and friends. If they did not believe in my idea, I could never be successful,” says Temitope.

“If you cannot convince yourself and people in your house, forget your idea. Don’t bother continuing.”

Age should not determine whether or not you should start something. A statement that Temitope believes that every young person should abide by when pursuing entrepreneurship.

“We’re living in the age of disruption. Older generations are content. We aren’t and we shouldn’t be,” he says. Although he believes age should not matter, it did for him when some opportunities were taken away because of his age. “Some people couldn’t fathom the idea of giving money to a young person. In Nigeria, age is such an important thing. If you’re young, you’re not really taken seriously,” he says.

While his peers might have been deterred, he was motivated to build credibility and once that was established, he knew things would eventually fall into place.

It is easy to call what Temitope built a successful showcase of entrepreneurship. However, it took a long time to employ 200 staff and service over 100 schools in Nigeria. He learnt his skills on the job. He recalls his first understanding of entrepreneurship as “finding what is not right, and trying to make it right with the mindset that money solves everything.”

Now, after 13 years, he can confidently say that is not what entrepreneurship is. “I am still looking for problems and I am still trying to find solutions. The entrepreneurial mindset is part of me. Now, I am smarter about my approach,” he says in an excerpt culled from Anzishaprize.org.

In Nigeria, there are about 160 million people. 18 million are school leavers and 60% of that number struggle with unemployment. Temitope says he has somewhat of a responsibility to provide opportunities for the unemployed. He also believes that changing the landscape of how people view entrepreneurship should start in primary school.

“You don’t need to go to a brick and mortar school to make changes or disrupt anymore. Primary school is where the future is. They could make a difference earlier,” he says.

Today, Krystal Digital is a 3-million-dollar company. Although Temitope and the team have been credited with success, he has had to understand the importance of failure on his entrepreneurial journey and how his understanding has evolved from when he was younger to now. “Failure is a set of mistakes made over and over again. I have done that. I have failed. You have to fail at some point. It is part of the journey,” he says.

Over the last decade, The Anzisha Prize has celebrated young entrepreneurs and believes that successful transitions from school to entrepreneurship are under-invested. The names on this list exemplify the Anzisha Prize’s longstanding belief that more young people should choose entrepreneurship to help lessen youth unemployment on the continent. While not everyone can be an entrepreneur, but those who are interested should be encouraged and supported in their pursuit.

“As the youth unemployment rate increases and young people battle to find gainful employment, we want to ignite conversations about the support needed for young people to pursue entrepreneurship as a career choice. Educators, parents, investors and policymakers have the power to influence the decisions of young people to view entrepreneurship as an option,” says Melissa Mbazo – Ekpenyong, Deputy Director at Anzisha Prize.

While some of the honorees faced unemployment issues, many of them became entrepreneurs after witnessing a parent run a business on a small scale. At the age of 8, Kenyan entrepreneur Njeri Rionge was ushered into the world of entrepreneurship by selling fruits and vegetables at a busy market in Nairobi. South African entrepreneur Ntuthuko Shezi started out helping his mum sell baked goods. Now at the age of 38, he is currently pursuing his fourteenth business. Both their stories and those of the other Hall of Fame inductees highlight the realities of deviating from traditional career pathways into entrepreneurship.

“The Hall of Fame has been a two-pronged approach. Firstly, we wanted to showcase that the pursuit of entrepreneurship is not something that needs to be done when all else has failed. You can and should start now. Secondly, we want to create African points of reference for young people to feel encouraged that this path of entrepreneurship is a viable choice,” says Didi Onwu, Communications and Stakeholder Relations Associate, who developed the list. While arguments for young people to follow traditional career pathways have created a singular understanding of success, entrepreneurship provides a counter perspective that demonstrates success can be achieved at an early age.